Flashback
by Batmanfan12
Summary: Sequel to Finally. Izzie's back at Grey Sloane and she wants Alex. Alex says he's engaged but Izzie won't take no for an answer.
1. Chapter 1

**Takes place a month after "Finally". Stephanie lives with Jo and Alex in Meredith's old apartment. Izzie will be mean , rude and manipulative in this story. Enjoy Jolex fans!**

It was morning in the Karev-Wilson-and (unfortunately) Edwards house. Alex rolled over and was met with a bush of brown hair. _Jo._ He snuggled closer to his girl-no, _fiancee_ , he reminded himself. He pulled her closer to his chest; inhaling in the scent of her vanilla shampoo. Oh how he loved that.

"Mmm," Jo turned to face him. How did he always manage to look so irresistible in the morning?

"You ready?" Alex moved a piece of her hair from her face.

"For?"

"Work," he pointed out. It hit her. Oh yeah, she could come back. A month ago, there was an explosion at the hospital and she suffered second degree burns. She was ordered to stay away from work for a month.

"Well yeah," she sat up a bit. "But I was thinking we could do something a bit more…naughty," she smirked at his surprises expression. He then smirked as well. "Thought you'd never ask."

Jo sat on top of him and leaned down to kiss him roughly.

"Ew are you two still together?" a voice snorted.

Alex, who's eyes were closed, prayed with all his might that it wasn't who he thought it was. It couldn't be. But lone behold, there stood Cristina Yang with as smirk on her face. "Keep that up and we'll have tiny Evil Spawn's among us."

"Get out of my room!" He snapped, annoyed. All he wanted was one quiet morning with his fiancee, wasn't it too much to ask for?

"It's been what, five years?" She sent a scruntnizinf look over to Jo. "Huh, no bar girl or nurse; I'm impressed, Karev."

To say that Jo was embarrassed that her former boss found them in bed was an understatement. They really needed a lock.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked gruffly, sitting up in bed. Jo hesitantly did the same. Good thing she was wearing real pajamas. Alex was just in a shirt and boxers but she knew he didn't care. Alex and Cristina lived together before.

"I moved back here," she shrugged. A moment later she added, "And I'm living here."

"W-what," Alex choked. "You're-you're living here? You can't." She raised her eyebrows.

"Edwards has your old room."

"Move her to the attic," Cristina waved dismissively, as if it was no big deal.

"Fine-no!" Alex shot back when Jo glared at him daringly.

Cristina waved her hand again. "We'll talk later. I have hearts to play with." She left without closing the door.

"Dress appropriately for the eyes!" she called over her shoulder.

Alex groaned and fell back on the bed. "We'll never have privacy again," he said more to himself then Jo.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Jo had walked Alex to the peds floor. She had been pleasantly surprised when Alex slipped his hand into hers. He wasn't exactly affectionate so this was a huge step!

"Of course," Alex smiled down at her. Jo grinned, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I love you, jerk." His stomach did that annoying flip every time she said that.

"Love you too, princess."

He turned around to find Callie and Arizona standing right behind him. He jumped back a little.

"That was so cute!" They squealed in unison. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah whatever," he picked up a handful of charts. He was about to walk in the opposite direction when he felt a hand pull him back by the back of his white coat. It was Arizona. She was smiling a much too perky smile.

"I need you for a case!" She said much too cheerfully. She hugged Callie and dragged Alex along.

"Allison Stromer, thirteen years old; twenty two weeks pregnant. Showing signs of an ectopic pregnancy and possible preeclampsia," Arizona said when she and Alex entered the young girls room

Alex wouldn't admit it to anyone but his heart broke a little at the scared expression on Allison's face.

"I'm going to be okay, right?" she timidly asked. She glanced between Arizona and Alex.

"if you wouldn't have sex then you wouldn't be going through this!" the mother snapped from her chair.

"I told you I was raped!" Allison argued. Her face contorted with pain and she grabbed her stomach.

"Oh-okay," Arizona interrupted the banter. "Arguing is only going to hurt Allison. Everyone needs to calm down."

"You hear that, Allison? Don't argue with me," the mother pointed a manicured finger in her direction.

Allison huffed and said nothing.

Alex narrowed his eyes. "You're the one who needs to stop arguing!" He yelled.

Arizona touched his arm gently. "Alex," she whispered.

He yanked his arm out of her touch. The mother done made him mad. "How can you-"

"Dr. Karev!" Arizona raised her voice. "That's enough. Calm down." She turned her attention back to Allison. "Aly, our OB-GYN will be down here soon. Then-"

"It's a woman, correct?" the mother said abruptly.

Arizona, surprised at the interruption, said "Yes." She ignored Alex's I-told-you-she's-crazy-look.

"Good," she was satisfied. "The last thing we need is another man to touch you."

Allison turned red and neither doctor knew if it was from anger or embarrassment.

"Oh, the OB is here," Arizona tried desperately to lighten the mood.

And at that moment Alex Karev heard a voice he wished he would never hear again. "Hi I'm Dr. Stevens!" the blonde said brightly.

Alex inwardly sighed on relief. She hasn't noticed him yet. He nudged Arizona's shoulder and motioned that he was leaving. She nodded in confusion.

As he was leaving, he heard that unmistakable voice.

"Alex…hey."


	3. Chapter 3

**I forgot to say this in the last chapter but thank you all SO much for the kind reviews! I'm sorry the chapters haven't been very long but I promise chapter 4 will be!**

 **Enjoy!**

"Alex still works here?" Izzie giddily asked Arizona after they left Allison's room.

Arizona was a bit weirded out. Was this _the_ Izzie Stevens that had broken her Alex's heart? The Izzie Stevens that left him via note? Despite working in the same hospital for a year or so, Arizona never talked to Izzie before. And after learning what she did to Alex, she was glad she didn't.

"Yeah," she faked a smile. "He's the head of pediatric surgery now."

Izzie burst into laughter. "Alex? Pediatrics? That's funny. He said he was going into plastics."

Arizona was a bit peeved. What was so amusing about Alex and peds? "He loves the kids."

This made Izzie sober up. "Alex likes kids?" she repeated in disbelief. In all her years of knowing him (which wasn't exactly a lot) she wouldn't never have pictured him working for anything other then plastics. Plastics was where all the arrogant, slightly selfish people went. Sure, he wasn't heartless when it came to children but he wasn't the homey grandpa type either. When did he change his specialty? She wondered.

"He loves them," Arizona was shocked at how someone he used to be close to knows so little about him. "You should see his face when he interacts with them. He's all smiley and silly. You know, he sang to one girl."

This caught Izzie off guard. "He _sang_?"

Arizona nodded. "She was nine and getting an MRI. She couldn't have her phone and was scared so Alex sang one of the songs to her. It was the cutest thing he's ever done."

Izzie's mouth felt dry. Where was this Alex when they dated? Got married? Why wasn't he this sweet to her? It wasn't fair.

"I guess I've missed a lot," she laughed nervously. Arizona didn't join in on the laughter. She wanted to leave but then Izzie asked, "Is Alex seeing anyone?"

Arizona felt the need to defend the relationship. "Yes. He's in a serious relationship with an amazing girl. They've been dating for a while."

Izzie didn't look detoured. "It won't last long," she laughed again.

"What's that suppose to mean?" the peds surgeon narrowed her eyes in a similar Alex fashion. Just what was this woman implying?

"Look Arizona-"

"Dr. Robbins."

Izzie flushed a bit when two nearby nurses snickered. "I know you and Alex are close; I get it. But you don't know him like I do. He always picks bar girls or nurses-"

"She's not a nurse," Arizona glared.

"Excuse me?"

"She's a surgeon, a brilliant one."

Izzie blinked. "What's her name?"

"That's none of your business," Arizona crossed her arms.

Izzie stared at the woman incredulously. How dare she….

"If you want to know, ask Alex. It's not my place to give out his personal information."

Arizona grabbed chart and left without another glance at Izzie Stevens.

 _Jolex forever_ , Arizona thought, inwardly giggling at the ridiculous couple name. She couldn't wait to tell Alex that they finally had a couple name!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Alex sat at the usual lunch table; mulling the morning's events in his mind. He couldn't believe she was here. Actually here. He wondered how she got hired anyway. Webber had fired her for making a critical mistake with a patient. And somehow, here she was; practicing medicine once again. Well, maybe he'd hardly see her, it was a big hospital, he reasoned.

"Alex," Arizona seemed to jump out of nowhere. She sat down in one of the chairs in front of him. "We need to talk later."

He nodded. He figured out that it was probably about Izzie but didn't have the strength to ask.

"Does Jo know about this?" Arizona asked, taking a bit of her sandwich.

Alex's stomach dropped. He hadn't bothered to tell her, not that he's seen her since this morning anyway.

"Alex!" she administered. "Why would you not tell her?"

"Maybe she won't notice her,": he argued.

Arizona gave him a are-you-for-real-right-now- look. "Alex, she's going to find out. She'll see Izzie for cases or at lunch! Are you really that stupid?"

"Of course he is," Cristina sat down next to Arizona. "It's Evil Spawn. The world would be lost with his stupidity and impulsiveness."

"Thanks, Yang," he said sarcastically.

"So what's he being stupid about?" Cristina popped a chip in her mouth.

Alex hesitated. He really didn't want anyone to know but Yang would find out anyway. "Izzie's back."

Cristina's eyes widened. "Izzie freaking Stevens? How? Why?"

"She got hired as the new OB. I guess Webber's giving her another chance," Alex shrugged.

"Yeah, because the last time went so well," Cristina snorted.

Arizona decided to chime in. "He hasn't told Jo that she's back."

This stopped Cristina mid bite. "You haven't told Hairball?"

Alex was beginning to get frustrated. "I haven't seen her since this morning, okay!"

"You know that why we have pagers and on call rooms, right?" Cristina spoke slowly as if she was talking to a child. And considering it was Alex, she probably was.

"I'm not paging her for no reason," he ran a hand through his hair, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

Cristina snorted again. "Yeah, because you certainly haven't done that before."

'Shut up!" he snapped.

"Hey!" Arizona intervene. " Alex, you need to tell Jo if she makes it to lunch. She needs to hear it from her you."

"Better hope she doesn't dump you," Cristina commented.

Alex opened his mouth to retort but than..

"Hey guys!" Izzie said brightly. She was grinning.

"Hi," Arizona made it a point to speak first.

Izzie's grin faltered a bit. She quickly recovered. 'Is anyone sitting here?" She motioned to the seat. When no one said anything she sat down.

"It's like old times," she gushed. Cristina mumbled under her breath and Alex ignored her completely.

"Where's Mer?" Izzie tried to start another conversation.

"Surgery," Cristina said in a monotone.

Izzie watched in the others eat and was beginning to become upset. Sure, she hadn't expected a parade upon her return but at least a "I missed you!" or a hug. Was it too much to ask?

"You guys act like you don't want to see me," her voice made it come out as a bit of a whine.

The three surgeons stopped eating.

"We don't," Cristina said before taking a drink of her soda.

Izzie turned to her ex husband for support. "You want to see me, don't you babe?"

"Did you just call my boyfriend, babe?"

Deadly silence.

The group turned to see Jo Wilson standing there with her hands on her hips. Her facial expression was unreadable. Alex had a sinking feeling that the couch would be his bed that night.

"I-uh," Izzie stumbled over her words. Her brain felt like mush. It was embarrassing enough that no one was acknowledging her presence.

Cristina leaned closer to Arizona. "This is getting good," she snickered.

Jo sat down next to Alex with a smirk on her face. She extended her hand. "Jo Wilson, and you are?"

"Uh..Izzie Stevens," she watched the recognition spark in Jo's eyes.

"Stevens, huh?" Jo leaned back in her chair. "Rings a bell." She tapped her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. Her face lit up a moment later. "Oh yeah! You left Alex with a note as your only explanation!"

Izzie felt extremely uncomfortable now. "That was a long time ago."

"Which brings me back to my original question: did you just call my boyfriend babe?"

"Fiancee," Cristina corrected.

"Yeah, fiancee," Jo nodded. "Well?"

"Well, um," Izzie stuttered. Her eyes widened a moment later. "Fi-fiancee?"

This time Alex spoke. "Yeah. I'm engaged. But shhhh, don't tell Jo," he said in an exaggerated whisper. "It's the head radiologist. We really hit it off last night."

Jo didn't seem bothered to hear this. "Doesn't matter. Joe and I hit it off last night too," she chuckled.

"Joe's gay," Alex pointed out.

"Not anymore," Jo smirked.

Izzie felt a bit dizzy. How was Alex engaged? She remembered years ago one night Alex was calling her furiously, trying to figure out where she was and when she was coming back. When did things change? She didn't remember Jo from when she worked there before so she must be new. _Must be an intern_ , she thought jealously.

"So when did you and Alex get together?" she asked politely. As much as she hated asking questions about his love life, she needed info.

The couple glanced at each other. "Well we first got together when I was an intern than broke up because of some pointless drama a few months ago but than a month ago I proposed to him," she caressed his arm. "Makes up for all the times I said no, huh?"

"You wish, princess," Alex smirked.

"Jerk."

"Oh yeah, the fire," Izzie changed the subject. She really hated seeing Jo be affectionate with him. He never let her do that when they dated. "What happened? I heard someone died but that's about it."

Alex turned to face Jo. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to," he stroked her cheek.

"If she won't, I will," Cristina uncharacteristically was looking over at Jo with concern.

Arizona wanted to squeeze her shoulder but didn't want to embarrass her.

"No it's fine," Jo took a deep breath. "Me and my friend Stephanie were taking care of this guy who was the victim of what looked like an ordinary car accident. He wanted to see the woman so me and Steph snuck him out to see her. The woman told Jackson Avery and Bailey that the guy was a rapist and she caused the accident so she would die rather than get raped. They set off a lockdown when they noticed we were all gone. Well the guy took me and Steph down to the basement to escape. We found a little girl, Erin, down there. He wanted to start a fire and take her with him so he could escape since no one would stop a guy trying to save a kid. Well Steph set him on fire and he rolled to the tanks they exploded. We almost died but thankfully Ben Warren and some firefighters found us.." Alex had to give her credit, she didn't stutter or shake this time. She had been horrible when she had to talk to the police about it.

Izzie didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry," she offered lamely.

"I'm sure you are," Cristina said under her breath. Arizona elbowed her.

"Me and Alex are probably going to be spending a lot of time together," Izzie said causally.

Alex glared at her hotly. Arizona and Cristina's jaw dropped. Arizona's because she didn't want a fight to break out and Cristina's because she was hoping a fight would break out.

"Oh?" Jo raised her eyebrows.

Izzie smiled haughtily. "We're working on the Allison Stromer case."

"The pregnant chick with the crazy mother?' Jo asked.

"Crazy is an understatement," Alex snorted. Arizona tried to glare at him in disapproval but even she had to agree.

"How crazy?" Cristina took another bite of her salad.

"Daughter was raped and mom doesn't believe her," Arizona glanced at Alex. "And someone yelled at her for it."

"Alex!" Jo and Izzie said in usion, though for completely different reasons.

"Way to go," Jo felt proud at how much her fiancee cared for children.

No, no," Izzie frowned. "That was completely disrespectful."

"Chill out, Izzie," Alex rolled his eyes.

'It's too bad I can't be there," Jo held his hand. . "I could offer some wisdom to her."

"What do you now about being pregnant," Alex raised his eyebrows.

Jo smacked him. "Nothing but I had some pretty crappy foster parents so I could at least tame the mother."

"Well, you can't," Izzie smiled fakely.

"Yeah, I'm on Dr. Yang's service today," She said with a smile.

"That's okay," Cristina said, catching the attention of the table. "If you want go hangout with Evil Spawn then fine, whatever," she tried to mask the laughter in her voice at Izzie's disbelief expression.

"Oh thank you Dr. Yang!" Jo said gleefully.

"Yeah whatever."

Jo turned to Izzie with an ecstatic smile. "Isn't this great? Now we both get to spend time with our little Alex,' she pinched his cheeks.

"Cut it out," he laughed. Arizona giggled a bit.

Cristina wrinkled her nose. "Okay, I'm out of here," she announced, picking up her tray. "See ya at home, Wilson," she called over her shoulder as she walked away.

"Well," Arizona stood up. "I need to be going as well. I'll see you guys later?" She purposely avoided eye contact with Izzie.

"Yeah," they both agreed.

"What's later?" Izzie chimed in.

Arizona hesitated. When Alex gave a small shrug, she said, "Oh just a little party later."

"A party?" Izzie's eyes gleamed. A party would be the perfect way to talk to Alex without _her_ getting in the way.

"Can I come?" she asked hopefully.

"No," A;lex said immediately.

"Please," she begged. "I want to see Mer."

"Talk to her on the phone," he said gruffy.

At Izzie's discouraged look, Arizona said gently, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to come. It's just not the right time."

Izzie sipped her iced tea miserably. The she witch and that Arizona woman were ruining her life.

Jo's pager suddenly vibrated. "Gotta go," she told Alex, kissing him quickly. "Massive trauma came." And within a moment she was gone.

"I should be going too. I'll see you in O.R. 4," Arizona told him. This left Alex and Izzie to themselves.

"So," Izzie walked her fingers over near to his arm. "Are you really happy with Jo?"

Alex growled. "I love her."

"But are you in love with her," she pressed on.

Alex's fist hit in the table. "Izzie, get over it! I don't like you anymore. I stopped loving you after you left me with a freaking note. Go away and stay out of my life!" He stomped away; feeling angrier than he ever had.

This left Izzie with angry tears welling in her eyes. Alex Karev would love her again and dump that that lowlife if that was the last thing she did.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Jo Wilson wasn't the jealous type. She could handle herself emotionally better than most women. She prided herself for it. Never had she ever felt the tiniest bit of jealousy in a relationship-well, before Alex, anyway.

Her relationship with Alex was different; it meant something. She always wanted a future with him, not that she would admit, of course. Now that they were engaged, she could have that happy ending she always wished for.

Naturally when she saw the blonde close to her fiancée, the alarms in her head went off. Alex was known for sleeping with a lot of people; practically the whole hospital, but he wouldn't cheat on her. He loved too much. And besides, he did have some standards.

But the longer she took in the blonde's appearance, the more inferior she felt. The woman was gorgeous. Her hair was, obviously, blonde and long; it was hanging down in long, thick curls. Her eyes were the bluest Jo had ever seen. She had the perfect hourglass shape that other women would kill for. There was no blemish on her face. Although her face was heavily painted with makeup. It looked _so_ fake.

Jo blew a piece of hair from her face. She groaned and leaned against the counter. She needed to get these post-op notes but she had absolutely no motivation to do them.

"Hey, princess," Alex wrapped his arms around her waist which started her. She whipped around and held up a pen for defense.

Alex stared at the pen than at her. "A pen, really?"

"I could do some real damage with this," she stood on her tiptoes to prove her fierceness. Unfortunately, she was still a couple inches shorter than he was so it lessened the affect.

"Like what? Draw a mustache on me," he mocked her.

She observed his face. "At least you'd have more hair than you do now."

"Whatever," he grumbled.

A comfortable silence set over them.

"Look, Jo. I'm sorry about Izzie," he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "She's a bit of..."

"A floozy," Jo smiled sweetly.

He couldn't help but laughed. "I think she still has feelings for me," he said, becoming serious again.

"Really? Because i couldn't tell when she called you babe or practically drool at the sight of you," she huffed.

Alex frowned. "Was it really that obvious?"

"Dude, she's like a puppy," Jo cleared her throat before doing a horrible impression of Izzie. "Me and Alex will be spending a lot of time together!" She giggled obnoxiously.

"You're nuts," he chuckled, drawing her close in his arms. Jo rested her head on his chest, enjoying his warmth. Alex kissed her hair. They loved moments like these. They loved the moments where they were the only ones in the world.

"Are you sure you want to get married?" Alex asked casually. Truthfully, he'd been nervous ever since she said yes that she would take it back. That's why he didn't start any wedding plans.

Jo lifted her head up and looked at him with loving eyes. Her thumb traced his cheek. "Of course, I do. I want us to be married so we can really fight like an old married couple."

Alex licked his lips. "I like the way you think, princess."

Jo smiled devilishly. "What do you say we take this to the on-call room? I think you need to be punished."

"For?"

"Sneaking up on me,' she quickly kissed his lips. It was feather light. She loved teasing him.

Alex groaned from the touched.

"Race ya!" and with that, she took off.

Alex smiled softy. He found a keeper; no doubt.

 **Glad y'all are enjoying this story so far! I'm having so much fun writing it. Also, I will update my other story-Finally. I've had writers block on that one so I may not get to that one for a while. But it will be eventually!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Izzie Stevens was mad.

No, correction: she was furious.

First that she devil interrupts and ruins the time with her friends (excluding Arizona of course. She will never be friends with that woman); then she gets all affectionate with Alex and he doesn't even stop her! He says he loves her! Pifft. She's like ten years younger than he is. Doesn't he know what she's doing?

Oh Alex.

Poor naive, love sick Alex.

All he wanted was to be loved and that she devil was stringing him along.

 _Not to worry, Alex,_ she thought. _I have a plan._

And what a brilliant plan it was.

Yes, it was great. She'd thought it out perfectly; down to the last detail. It was relatively simple really. First, she needed to get to Mer's party. Step two: wear a sexy outfit. She had spent two and a half hours preparing for this. The dress was casual and a dark red. It was a bit low cut. She put on more makeup than usual; this was important. She spent almost an hour curling her hair and wore five-inch-high heels.

She smiled at the mirror.

Alex wouldn't know what hit him.

 **Meanwhile at Alex's apartment**

"Is it too late to cancel?" Alex asked for the hundredth time that afternoon. Meredith insisted on having a little get together party at his place. And by insist he meant forced.

Meredith stared a him exasperatedly. "No! This is important."

Alex groaned loudly.

"Put the chips and quaso in a bowl,' she instructed. She was strutting around as if it was her kitchen again, which was amusing.

Arizona found her old boombox so she and Jo were trying to decide on what CD's to use. Cristina, non-surprisingly, was laying on the couch, supervising.

"Oh, cheer up," Mer told Alex, who was spilling chips from his carelessness. "It's going to be fun!"

"What happened to you," he eyed her wearily. "You hate parties and happiness. Aren't you all dark and twisty?"

She huffed. "I can be happy sometimes. Let me be happy."

He dropped the subject. 'So, who'd you invite?"

She seemed pleased he was asking. "Bailey, Maggie, Richard, Amelia, Edwards, Ross, Catherine, Avery, Kepner, Hunt, Riggs, Joe, and DeLuca." He and DeLuca were on good terms now that all the drama was past them.

"Why don't you just invite the whole hospital," he grumbled grumpily.

She ignored him. The doorbell rang and she gasped. "Oh, they're here!" And ran to the door to greet them.

Alex just stood there with mindless thoughts. He felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his waist. Jo leaned her head against his back. "Wanna go upstairs? I can order pizza and we have beer," she suggested.

He shook his head. "We should stay down here. You know, being respectful since Mer took all the time to plan this," he added at Jo's confusion.

"She's making you stay, huh?" She faced him.

He crossed his arms and avoided her eyes. "Maybe."

'Wuss."

"Who's a wuss?" Cristina came out of nowhere and plopped on the kitchen chair; munching on chips.

"Alex is," Jo informed her.

"I could've told you that," Cristina enjoyed watching the vein on Alex's forehead become more and more visible.

"Guys," Mer stopped the obvious banter that was about to start. "Izzie's here."

"We're not staying here if you let her stay," Alex said harshly.

'Why's she here?" Jo asked, touching Alex's arm to calm him down.

Mer sighed. "She says she wants to see Bailey and Richard again."

"That's such crap! She said she wanted to see you," Alex said.

Meredith shrugged. "Well I'm going to let her in."

"You can't be serious," he groaned.

"It's just for a bit. Just so she can see Bailey and Richard than she's leaving," Mer explained. And so she left to do just that.

Alex closed his eyes when he heard Izzie's screeching voice.

"Mer!" she all but screamed, pulling a very reluctant Meredith into a hug.

"Hey, Izzie. It's good to see you," Mer said plainly. She took in Izzie's grand appearance. "You look...great. You do know it's a casual thing, right?"

Izzie smiled primly. "I do. I was going to wear some jeans and a sweater but then I saw this old thing." She did a bit of a twirl. "It looks brand new after a little ironing."

Meredith was no fool. That dress _was_ brand new. It just came out in stores a few weeks ago-she saw it when she and Amelia went shopping for new curtains.

"Is Alex here?" Izzie crained her neck trying to look through the apartment from the doorway.

"Yeah. He's with Jo in the kitchen," Meredith saw the instant change of emotion in Izzie's eyes.

"Is he now?" Izzie took a deep, calming breath. If her plan was going to work than she needed to remain calm. 'Well, is Bailey here?" she asked.

Meredith nodded. "Over there," she pointed.

Izzie stepped into the apartment for the first time in years. It was homier than she remembered. She had heard Alex, Cristina, some resident and _her_ lived there now. The furniture and pictures on the wall were new. Those hadn't been picked out by Alex. That darn resident! She probably sweet talked him into giving her his card and she bought all of this!

 _Be calm,_ she told herself. All she needed to do was find Alex and talk to him.

By the end of tonight she very well maybe the soon to be Mrs. karev.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The party was becoming a success: they had plenty of food, plenty of alcohol ("We need booze," a tipsy Cristina told Meredith), and plenty of people.

Everyone was having a good time; well, almost everyone.

"I hate this," a very grumpy Alex told Jo. He took a long swig of his cold beer. The couple was sitting at the island by themselves. Jo grabbed the bottle from him before he could take another drink. "Don't. I don't want drunk sex." She glanced out at the crowd. Everyone seemed to be so happy. Meredith was introducing Cristina to Riggs. Bailey, Webber and his wife were talking amongst themselves; probably about work issues. Stephanie, DeLuca and Ross were having their own little dance party. Maggie, Amelia, kepner, Avery and Joe the bartender were playing an intense game of scrabble. They all kept trying to get the couple to talk or play but Alex wanted to stay right where he was, so Jo stayed with him. Her eyes wandered over to where Izzie was. She was sitting cross legged in a chair in the living room. She acted as though she was watching the party but Jo knew better. She was watching Alex.

"It's not that bad," Jo comforted him; her eyes keeping an eye on Izzie. Her fiancée shrugged her off. "Are you upset because of lunch today? If you are, it's fine. I'm not mad."

Alex sighed and reached out to hold Jo's hands. He ran his finger over her engagement ring. He felt his body instantly calm. "No. I'm upset because she came back. It took me a long time to get over her," he admitted. He expected Jo to be sympathetic and tell him how sorry she was; but she didn't. She nodded and said, 'Why don't we go socialize for a bit. Than we can go upstairs and chill?"

He gave a tiny smile. "Okay."

The couple joined everyone else who greeted them warmly. "So, when's the wedding?' Stephanie asked eagerly.

Alex and Jo shared a look. "How about next week?" He said unsurely. Jo grinned. "Works for me."

"Alex," Meredith said in surprise. "How are supposed to get a wedding planned in a week?"

"How much planning can there be?" Jo scoffed. Izzie mentally laughed at her. Such immaturity.

Stephanie shook her head fondly. 'Girl, you're in for a lot."

Jo couldn't feel to excited about that. Unlike most girls, she never dreamed about the perfect wedding. She really didn't know what to do.

Alex noticed she was a bit intimidated by the talk. "It's okay. I'll help you," he assured her.

"Should we tell them?" Meredith asked the crowd smiling.

"Tell us what?" Alex felt a bit creeped out by all the smiling faces, well minus Izzie's of course.

"Yeah, what?" Izzie had a bad feeling.

'Alex, Jo," Meredith said, 'this is your engagement party!" They cheered.

"Oh my gosh," Jo laughed. She was so touched.

Alex was staring blankly before a huge grin spread across his face. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I love it."

Izzie couldn't believe this. The Alex she knew would never have agreed for a party in his apartment; let alone stick around for it. Sure, maybe some of this new Alex was great. But she was supposed to change him; not _her_. The woman wasn't even attractive. She wore her hair in a simple ponytail and didn't even bother to spruce up her outfit. And her boobs; she had pancakes for boobs! She had boobs. She was the one with real boobs.

"I have boobs!" she blurted out.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her.

Cristina, who was quite drunk, stumbled over to her. "But Alex doesn't like your booibs," she poked Izzie's chest consistently. "He likes fresh ones."

Izzie was absolutely mortified when people began snickering.

"I knew I liked Dr. Yang!" she high fived Alex.

"You know you can call her Cristina when you're off work, right?" Meredith said, amused.

"Yeah, I guess so," Jo said sheepishly. She honestly felt a little left. Most of the people there knew each other very well and they were older than she and her friends.

"You two should dance!" Stephanie shouted, using her phone to play _I Will be Right Here Waiting For you_.

Jo's cheeks turned a bit pink.

Alex held out his hand. "You up for it?"

"I guess," Jo said, feeling shy from all the eyes on her. But she felt all the shyness melt away when she was pulled into his arms. Her arms were around his neck and his was around waist.

"Don't you dare touch my butt," she told him, grinning.

"Well aren't you a barrel of fun," he chuckled.

Meredith watched the couple with a smile. They really were perfect for each other. Alex was staring into Jo's eyes with adoration. He had never done that with any other woman before; including Izzie. Speaking of Izzie, Meredith glanced at the chair that the blonde was still occupying. Her arms were crossed and she had a look of hated at Jo's back. Mer sighed. She'd completely forgotten to have Izzie leave after talking to Bailey and Richard.

"Izzie," Meredith said as she approached her, "you need to leave."

Izzie looked panicked. She couldn't' leave, she hadn't gotten her chance to talk to Alex yet!

"Leave," Meredith repeated quietly. She didn't want to cause a scene. Alex and Jo deserved to have a night to celebrate.

"I'm sorry, mer, but I can't," Izzie stood up. She folded her hands like she was carrying a bouquet of flowers and set out to the dancefloor for her true love.

 _Wherever you will go_ was playing now. Izzie felt like she was in a music video; she was the pretty girl that was sitting at a cafe and Alex comes in. He smiles at her, she hides her face in the menu but is astounded at how handsome he is. Fast-forward: they're on a date and he slowly leans in to kiss her. It's so gentle she feels electricity. Fast-forward again: They're at the park, he's on one knee and-

"Omf," Alex grunts. Much to Izzie's horror, she had bumped into the couple while they were dancing. No one says a word.

"Alex, we need to talk," she says desperately.

"No. You need to leave," he says coldily.

She looks hurt. "But Alex-"

"No buts!" his voice is rising. "No one wants you here!"

Izzie begins tearing up. Her lower lip is sticking out.

"Spare me the tears! I don't want you here!"

'Alex," she yelled. "We need to talk about Jo," she reluctantly said her name.

At this point, Jo stepped forward. 'If you need to talk about me, then say it to my face," she glared.

DeLuca and Stephanie seemed to be ready to help if a fight broke out. They were aware of how Jo was when she was angry or provoked.

"I know what you're doing," Izzie's eyes bore down to Jo. This was it. Someone had to tell poor Alex what _she_ was doing to him.

"Excuse me?"

"Izzie," Meredith saw immediate danger when Alex was taking deep breaths.

"He's got to know the truth!" she protested to Meredith.

"What truth?" Jo was frustrated already.

"You're sleeping with him just to get surgeries!" Izzie exclaimed.

Everyone was shocked; some were angry.

Alex was livid.

"Okay, hold up!" Stephanie came to the middle. Her hands were on her hips and she was fuming. "Jo doesn't sleep for surgeries. Unlike you, she doesn't need to get around with people to make up for her insecurities."

"Burn," DeLuca muttered.

Izzie spluttered. "I don't have insecurities!"

"Izzie, you get jealous at the drop of a hat," Cristina slurred. She was finally coming off her drunken high.

"More importantly!" Izzie turned her attention back to Jo. "How does it feel to be caught?" She was smiling smugly.

Jo was beyond embarrassed and angry. The party guest stared at her sympathetically.

She felt ashamed of herself at how she was feeling. When Meredith told her Izzie was here she had tried to mentally prepare herself for any conflict that might arose. How did the blonde break her down so easily?

The tears began welling in her eyes despite how hard she tried to fight them. "I'm sorry," she choked out to Meredith. She fled to her and Alex's bedroom.

"Why can't you just keep your mouth shut!" Alex exploded. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"  
"Alex,' she stepped forward, reaching for him. He slapped her hand away.  
"You always do this! You always ruin everything good that's in my life!" he wasn't even aware of how loud he was getting; not that he would even care.

"You don't understand!" she screeched. "You don't understand what she's doing to you!"

"She's turned you into some sappy guy who likes children. Someone who is affectionate. Someone who-"

"Wait a minute," he held his hand up. 'I was affectionate with you."

Izzie laughed humorlessly. "Not like you are with her. She kisses you in public-"

"I kissed you in public!" he protested furiously.

"You pecked me for a moment. She get a real kiss! You let her touch your arm, Alex."

'So?" he furrowed his brows.

"If I did that you wouldn't yanked your arm away and scolded me like a little kid for doing it," she snarled. Everyone was beginning to see just how much hatred she had in her.

"Hey!" Arizona's angry face emerged. "You stay away from him! I don't want to even see you on the peds floor unless absolutely necessary."

"You can't do that," Izzie rolled her eyes.

"Actually,' Miranda Bailey spoke for the first time. 'She can. She and every other doctor has the right to ban others from floors within reason. And this is certainly one of those reasons." She was beginning to look as though she regretted hiring Izzie Stevens.

'Whatever," Izzie brushed off. "Your little girlfriend better watch it."

"Was that a threat?" Stephanie narrows her eyes.

Izzie shrugged. "So, what if it was?"

"That just cost you your first wrote up," Bailey informed her.

Izzie wrinkled her nose in disgust. She shouldn't really be surprised Bailey took up for them.

They were probably close since she left.

"Alex," Meredith said softly, , "go comfort Jo. We got this."

Alex didn't have to be told twice. He bolted up the stairs with a surge of worry running through his veins.

When Alex opened their bedroom door, he felt his heart break. Jo was sitting on their bed, curled up with her face buried in a pillow. He heard her sniffles and sobs. Her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was a bright shade of red.

"Alex," Jo sobered up. "I'm sorry I ran off like that i was just so-"

She was cut off Alex pulling her into a tight hug. Her forehead was against his shoulder. No matter how hard she tried, the tears flowed down her cheeks and she sobbed again.

'I was so embarrassed! How could she say that in front of everyone?" Jo inhaled her fiancée's scent of cinnamon and cologne; it smelled so good.

"I'm sorry," he hugged her tighter if possible. 'Mer said she'd take care of her."

"But what about work? Alex let her go. "What am I supposed to do there?" Jo was looking more helpless than he'd ever seen her.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But we can handle this, Jo."

"I feel bad," Jo said after a minute of silence. "I feel bad that Meredith did all this and I ditched it."

"Hey now," Alex said softly. 'Mer understands. We all do. Besides, it was lame anyway," he shrugged.

Jo giggled. "You said you loved it!"

"It was still lame and you know it."

"Whatever."

Jo settled herself on the bed. She arranged the pillows so she could lay on some and prop her feet up. Alex was sitting beside her; awestruck at how gorgeous she was when she didn't even try.

He remembered dating Izzie: it was a nightmare. She was always so overly concerned with her looks and insecure whenever she thought Alex was checking another woman out; he usually was.

He remembers how he hated the amount of time it took for her to make herself presentable. Too long. Izzie loved to wear thick layers of makeup caked on her face. The times before bed were the best; that's when she was makeup free.

Jo was the complete opposite. She never dressed up to impress him and when she thought he was checking someone out (which he had never done since they got together), she would help him choose a new one!

Jo didn't wear makeup except for April's almost wedding. She was plain most of the time and that's how he liked it.

"Can I ask you something?" Jo snuggled into his side.

Alex wrapped his arm around her. Jo had told him whenever he did that it made her feel safe; he loved making her feel that way. "Sure."

"This is going to be really stupid," she warned. "Do you still like Izzie?"

She blushed when Alex looked floored. "Like a sexual attraction? She's gorgeous," she elaborated.

Alex pulled her closer; his head resting on hers. "Princess, I love you. I haven't liked Izzie for a long time. And you *kiss* are *kiss* so *kiss* very *kiss* sexy," he stated between kisses.

Jo tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. It was so hard to imagine that the woman Alex had loved-froze his freaking sperm for-was downstairs.

Alex nuzzled her. "Is something else bothering you?"

More tears came to her eyes. "Everything! I hate how she disrespects our relationship by flirting with you! And saying I'm only using you...I haven't felt this low since Paul..."

Alex held her so she cried in his chest. "Shhh, it's going to be okay, princess. I promise," he vowed, rubbing her back for comfort.

"Okay," Jo mumbled, blinking to keep her eyes open.

"Go to sleep," Alex laid her down on her side and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight."

"G'night jerk," she buried her face in the pillow. She felt exhausted all at once.


	8. Chapter 8

It was nearly 2:30 in the morning when Alex crept downstairs to the kitchen. Jo had fallen asleep hours ago and all he did was watch her. She was the most perfect sleeper. After watching her sleep for a while, and resisting the urge to kiss her partly parted lips, he realized he needed a snack-he hadn't eaten since before the party.

He found Cristina at the island; her head resting on a bag of frozen peas.

"You again?" she said as a way of greeting. Her drunkenness was gone and Alex wasn't sure if he was pleased or not.

"Is Mer gone?" he asked. He wasn't in the mood for any questioning that would surely come.

"Yeah."

He sat across from her; trying to smile.

"What?" she asked rudely.

"I need a favor," he said. "Can you distract Izzie tomorrow? Just so me and Jo can start making wedding plans," he added quickly at Cristina's incredulous look.

"What's in it for me?" she crossed her arms, foot tapping.

"I'll buy you booze or tequila," he said hopefully.

"Nope, I'm on call," she stretched.

"I'll take all of your interns."

"I've grown to tolerate them."

"I'll make sure you get all the best heart surgeries," he offered.

"Ha!" she laughed. "You don't have the power for that."

"Than what do you want?" he asked frustrated.

She tapped her fingers together before a smirk crossed her face. "Stop having loud sex. It's annoying."

She was very pleased to find an uncharacteristic blush on Alex's cheeks. "We-we're not loud," he said, very flustered.

"Please," she drawled, "I might as well be in the room with you two."

Alex blushed a deeper shade of red which amused her greatly. Alex never blush so he must be really embarrassed. 'So," she pressed on. "If you'd so please, don't-"

"Okay!" he interjected. "Fine."

"Good. Than I'm off to bed," she rose to her feet and thrusted the bag of peas to him. "Take care of those."

Alex sighed heavily. Work was sure to be eventful.

Jo's eyelids opened slowly. She was blinded by the sun light that peeped in through the open drape. She turned to face Alex but to her surprise he wasn't there. She sat straight up in a panic. Did he run off with Izzie? Did he realize he loved her after all? No, she realized, his clothes were still there. Jo groaned. She really needed to stop worrying so much. Alex loved her. He proposed multiple times and still wanted her after she rejected him; that must mean something. An aroma grabbed her attention: it smelled lovely. _Did Alex cook?_

She trailed downstairs to find Alex, in fact, cooking. Well, _trying_ to cook. There were four pans on the stove, burning, she might add. Coffee was brewing as well.

"Morning," behind her was a very exhausted Stephanie.

"Morning," Jo smiled. "You sleep okay?"

Stephanie sat down. "Not after all those shots. We went to Joe's after.. you know."

Jo pursed her lips. "Yeah."

Changing the subject, Stephanie glanced over at Alex. "What's he doing?"

"Trying to cook," Jo rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I have cereal hidden for us."

"I thought I smelled smoke upstairs," Stephanie commented when the smoke alarm screeched obnoxiously.

"Then you cook," Alex snarkily replied. "Quit complaining."

Stephanie paled. She didn't think he heard her. Great, she just upset her boss. Her freaking _boss_.

Jo hugged him from behind. "I appreciate it, baby. I'll eat it.

"At least someone will," he glared at Stephanie who cowered.

"I have donuts in the fridge," Cristina strolled in. "Eat that."

"Oh, thank goodness," Jo sighed in relief. Alex stared at amused. "What about my food?"

She gently patted his arm. 'I'd rather not land in the emergency room."

He grumbled but snatched a chocolate donut before Jo could take it. "Hey!"

"Gotta be faster than that, princess," he said between bites. Before he could finish the last bit of donut, Jo stood on her tiptoes as if going for a kiss and ate the rest.

"Faster like that?" she smiled cheekily.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Stephanie muttered when the couple began kissing passionately.

"You can stay home if you want," Alex abruptly stopped walking right before they got to the doors. "I'm sure Dr. Bailey won't mind."

As much as Jo wanted to stay home she also knew she needed to work. She refused to get behind because of Izzie Stevens.

"It's fine," she caressed his hand with her thumb. "I want to work."

"Alright,' he said skeptically. "If you're sure."

"I am!" she grinned. "Now come on, Evil Spawn, patients awaits us!"

"You've been spending too much time with Cristina," Alex muttered as she dragged him through the doors.

They stopped by the resident and attendings lounge first. After that, they went up to the peds floor where they were met by Arizona.

"Are you okay? I would've asked last night but Meredith just told us all to leave and we all went to Joe's," she said this all in one breath. Her hand was furiously trying to comb her hair which was frizzy and messy.

Jo smiled warmly. "I'm fine."

"Great," Arizona puffed out. "I ran some blood tests on Allison and it didn't look good," she handed the chart to Alex.

As Alex read the results, his face turned grim.

"What?" Jo asked concernedly.

"She's got preeclampsia. Well it's getting there. She's going to have that baby soon," he replied.

Jo looked between her bosses. "Isn't it too early? Can it even survive?"

"Probably not," Arizona said sadly. "If it does, he or she will have a lot of problems."

"We should go to talk to her and her mom. And don't yell at her this time," she scolded Alex while they walked.

"No promises," he said, seriously.

Jo wondered how bad the mother could be. If Alex yelled at her she must be bad.

Allison was in her bed; nervously fidgeting with her long hair.

"Did you get the results?" she asked as soon as they came in.

"Allison!" her mother said angrily, "don't badger them!"

Arizona kept her eyes on Alex, making sure he didn't blow.

"We did," Jo said. 'Dr. Karev and Dr. Robbins talked about them."

Alex moved over and sat on Allison's bed. "You're showing a lot of signs for preeclampsia. You're probably going to have this baby very soon," he said gently.

"What?" She panicked. "I can't! Isn't it too soon?"

The mother was listening with slight interest.

"The conditions aren't ideal," Arizona chimed in. "There is a large chance that the baby won't survive."

"More like 100% chance," Izzie squeezed past Jo to get to the front. "I'm terribly sorry for being late. I was doing another consult."

"Then I'll wait," Allison stubbornly crossed her arms.

"You will not!" the mother exclaimed.

"Aly," Alex carefully chose his words. "I know this sounds really scary but you've got to understand. If we wait you may have the baby before the due date anyway. And the more time we wait the chance of you surviving becomes lower."

"I really recommend delivering today," Izzie told the mother. "It's less risky."

"Dr. Stevens," Arizona didn't seem to feel confident about her plan. "With all due respect, I think we can wait just a little bit more-"

"Are you an OB, Dr. Robbins," the mother inquired in a challenging tone.

"Well, no-"

"Then stick to your own job," she glared.

Jo and Alex exchanged concerned glances.

"We deliver today," the mother repeated firmly.

"No!" Allison all but yelled. "She won't survive!"

"At least I won't have two worthless mistakes in the house!" the mother yelled back.

Allison stared at her mother with cold eyes.

"Is that what we are to you? Worthless mistakes?"

"What am I supposed to think, Allison? You've always been rebellious and now you've got yourself pregnant and it's endangering your health! Am I supposed to just act like I'm alright wit this? Like you aren't a huge disappointment to me?" By the time Mrs. Stromer was done ranting, Allison was beyond upset. She sat up and began yanking out her IV's and everything attached to her.

Jo and Alex sprang into action: Jo took hold of the young girl's arms and held them down. Alex grabbed fresh needles and tried in vain to reinsert them but Allison was having none of it.

"Let go of me!" she wailed.

Arizona quickly ushered Mrs. Stromer out of the room; trying to speak loudly so Allison wouldn't hear her mother's insults at how childish she was acting.

Izzie sighed tiredly. "Allison, please let them do their job. You aren't our only patient." She sounded snippy.

Alex was finally able to reinsert the needles when Allison suddenly stopped struggling. She had tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "She just...she always talks to me like that and I just snapped...She trailed off in surprise when Alex pulled her in his arms for a hug.

"I get it," his voice was so low only Allison and Jo heard him.

Jo wasn't the mushy type; but when the scene made her heart melt with pride. Alex was so good with kids. i t was so adorable.

"Dr. Karev," Izzie said with forced kindness. "Please let go of the patient."

Aly was rather disappointed when he let go.

"Listen blondie," Aly said, annoyed. "It was just a hug and if you could, call me Aly."

Izzie appeared to be taken aback by Aly's words. "Dr. Stevens," she corrected. "Please be respectful."

"You," Alex hissed, pointing at Izzie, 'come with me. Now!"

Aly was staring dreamily at Alex as he and Izzie left.

"He is so hot," she told Jo, absentmindedly.

"He is," Jo agreed.

Aly suddenly squealed. "You should totally ask him out! You guys would be super cute!"

Jo giggled at the young girl's enthusiasm. "Actually, we're engaged."

"Dude, seriously?" Aly squealed again. "When's the wedding?"

"In a week," Jo answered, smiling. Saying it made her feel much more excited.

"What are the colors for your bridesmaids? Where are you having it? Have you written your vows yet?" Aly asked question after question.

Jo opened her mouth to respond but realized they _hadn't_ made any wedding plans yet.

"We don't know yet. We haven't planned anything," she admitted.

Aly bounced in her bed; which made her hold her stomach again from a wave of heavy pain.

"I could help," she rasped., "I know tons of stuff about weddings."

"Sure,' Jo said after a moment of thought. They would need all the help they could get.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jo was at the nurse's station; writing long pages of notes to study for her boards exam which was in two weeks. She didn't notice Stephanie approach her.

"Hey girl," Steph said, cheerfully.

Jo didn't even bother to look up. 'Oh, hey."  
"So I was wondering... are you still upset from last night? Yang made me swear not to ask you this morning." Stephanie hoped that didn't sound too nosy. She was just worried for her best friend.

Jo stopped writing and Steph got a clear view of the sadness in her eyes.

"I felt so humiliated. She just.."

"Had no right to say it," Steph finished for her. Jo nodded and she continued. "I would've done a Maggie." Jo looked at her bewildered.

"Punched her," Steph felt relieved when Jo laughed a bit. "I forgot all about that."

"Seriously though," Steph became serious again. "What's her deal?"

Jo leaned back in her chair. "She still has feelings for Alex and she's determined to get back together. She wants to be married again." Jo spit out the last word as if it burned her mouth.

Stephanie's jaw dropped. "Shut up!"

"Yeah and yesterday she called him babe," Jo crossed her arms.

Steph rested her head in her hands. "Go on," she urged. Boy did she love gossip.

"She questioned Alex and asked if he's really in love with me," Jo said angrily. Calling him babe was one thing; but to question whether they really loved each other was another story.

"I did not go through all that drama just for her to ruin us," she said, more to herself then Stephanie.

"She won't," Steph assured. "Obviously Alex isn't happy about this either. Girl you should have heard him last night after you went upstairs," she shook her head. "It was ugly."

This got Jo's attention. No one had told her what happened. 'What happened?"

"She's so mad that he's more affectionate with you than he was with her. And she threatened you; saying you better watch out. Bailey wrote her up for it," the memory made Stephanie grin.

"Way to go Bailey," Jo murmured.

"Right?" Steph nodded vigorously. "Grey told Karev to go comfort you. Speaking of comforting," she said the word comfort in quotations. "Did you have hot comfort sex?"

Jo laughed. "Hardly. We cuddled and kiss and I fell asleep."

"What am I supposed to tell Murphy? I She wanted details," Steph was disappointed.

"Why wasn't she at the party?" Jo asked.

"Working," Steph replied. 'Soooooo."

'Soooooo, what?" Jo groaned. "This better not be another question about my sex life."

"It's not," Stephanie defended. 'I was going to ask if you've made any wedding plans yet?"

"Why does everyone keep asking?" Jo threw her hands up in the air.

"Because your wedding's in a week and you obviously have nothing planned," Steph smirked.

"Is it that obvious?" Jo asked sheepishly.

"Totally."

'I've never planned a wedding before. I don't know what to do! Alex said he'd help me but we've been so busy we barely eat or sleep," Jo slumped down and buried her face in her hands.

"Let's start with something easy," Steph said, confidently. "Bridesmaids?"

"I don't know who else besides you," Jo frowned.

"Leah?"

"No. We're not that close."

"Grey or Yang?"

"When Alex proposed before they said they'd be his groomswomen."

"Dr. Robbins?"

"Maybe. I'll have to ask."

"Shane?"

"Yeah! He could be my bridesman!"

"Who else?" Jo pondered.

"I think you're good," Steph said/. "What about guest?"

"Dr. Bailey, Dr. Webber, Dr. Shepard, Dr. Hunt; Joe, Leah, Dr. Avery, Dr. Kepner, the other Dr. Avery, Dr. Pierce, DeLuca, Dr. Riggs annnd that's all I got," Jo listed off names.

"Doesn't Karev have any family that could come?" Stephanie wondered.

Jo shook her head sadly. " His mom is schizophrenic and so is his brother. And his sister Amber hasn't talked to him in years. They're all in Iowa anyway."

"Wow," Steph said in her usual mannerism. "You both have crappy families yet you guys are total romantics toward each other." She said the last sentence with an eye roll.

'Technically I didn't have a family," Jo corrected. "And we aren't romantics."

"You so are," Steph rolled her eyes again. "You even said yes to his proposals in a typical cliche fashion."

"I did not!" Jo protested.

"The hospital was on fire, Karev thought you were dead, you came out okay for the most part; you say yes than you guys live happily ever after," the sarcasm dripped from her voice.

Jo made a face. "Okay fine. It was cliche."

"Told you," Steph clicked her tongue. "You know,' she said after a minute of thought. "You're really taking this whole Izzie thing better than I thought."

Jo fiddled with her pen. "How so?"

"Besides last night, you've acted normal. You don't seem upset."

Truthfully, it had taken all of Jo's strength not to throttle Izzie. She tried to keep most of her feelings to herself. She really didn't want Alex to think that she didn't trust hm. She just didn't trust her.

"Listen Steph," Jo really didn't want to keep the conversation going anymore. Every time she thought of Izzie Stevens., that bitter feeling creeped up. She stood up, preparing to leave.

"Excuse me."

Great. Izzie Stevens. Again.

"I couldn't help but overhear,' Izzie's snobby voice pierced her ears.

 _I'm sure you couldn't._

"It isn't very polite to talk about your boss, now is it?" Jo wanted to slap that stupid smug smirk off her pretty little face.

"Dr. Stevens, what I said had nothing to do with you as a doctor," Stephanie and Jo exchanged concerned glances. Jo was slightly afraid of Izzie might do and Stephanie was worried that she might've gotten her best friend in a load of trouble.

'And aren't you supposed to be working?" Izzie asked, ignoring Jo's statement completely.

Jo froze, her mouth was slightly agape. "I...I was." she held up her notes. "These are my notes I'm studying for my boards."

Izzie pursed her lips. Steph was sure she was thinking of a way to trap Jo.

"But why aren't you with a patient? You aren't here to study. Does your attending know?" The way she said 'attending' made her blood boil.

"Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "Dr. Karev said I could study for a few hours."

"Aha!" Izzie's smugness was back. "But you weren't studying. You were talking instead." She began jotting down notes. Jo was panicking. What was she writing?

"You deliberately disobeyed your boss, you bad mouthed a boss," Izzie was enjoying the fear in Jo's eyes after every word she spoke. "And you discussed personal matters instead of conversing about patients," she shook her head with fake regretfulness. "I'll have to report this to Dr. Bailey. Also, you are on my service tomorrow and will be doing all my post ops."

Jo wasn't sure what she was more upset about: being reported to Bailey or missing out on a day's worth of surgeries.

"Dr. Stevens," Stephanie wished she hadn't stopped to talk to Jo. "Please don't punish, Jo. It's my fault. She was studying until I interrupted and got her to talk. If you want to punish someone than punish me."

Izzie raised an eyebrow. "Heartfelt. But it seems Dr. Wilson didn't bother to stop you so I'm afraid she is still in trouble."

'Are you serious?" You got to be kidding!" Jo threw her hands up with exasperation.

"Dr. Wilson, I would appreciate it if you didn't take that tone with me," Izzie felt highly amused. She knew she pressed some buttons.

"You know what," Stephanie grabbed Jo before she could attack Izzie. "I oughtta-"

"And that's why I brought her to you," Izzie finished.

Dr. Bailey rubbed her forehead. "Stevens, go. I'll handle Dr. Wilson."

Izzie nodded; feeling giddy inside.

The door closed and Jo felt the tension heat up a bit.

"Wilson," Dr. Bailey didn't know where to start. "What happened exactly?"

"I was studying for my boards and Steph came up to ask me how I was doing because of...you know," she continued when Dr. Bailey. "And we did kind of talk about her but I swear it wasn't bad. And then Izzie came and was trying to get me in trouble. She said tomorrow when I'm on her service I have to do all her post ops. I can't do any surgery. And Steph was trying to tell her that it wasn't my fault but she didn't care. And when she said I was still in trouble I kind of snapped,' Jo had the decency to blush.

Miranda Bailey sighed. In all her years working at the hospital there had never been a situation this complicated. "Karev is your attending, correct?"

"Yes," Jo replied.

"I'll have a word with him and make sure he said it was okay for you to study," she shuffled some papers around.

"Am I in trouble?" Jo bit her lip.

Dr. Bailey's face softened. "Not from what I can see. As for almost attacking an attending, this will be your warning. If this happens again I won't have a choice but to place you on probation."

Jo breathed a sigh of releif.

"Not get out of my office. It's your lunch time, isn't it?"

Jo looked at her and realized Bailey was right!

"See you, Dr. Bailey!"

"Wait a minute, Wilson," this stopped Jo just as she was about to go out the door.

'Ask if you can be on someone else's service tomorrow. You need to be doing surgeries; it'll help you study," Dr. Bailey smiled one of her rare geniune smiles at Jo.

"Thank you, Dr. Bailey, I will!" Jo hurried down the catwalk on her way to the cafetaria.

 _Alex is gonna be mad when he hears this, she_ thought.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 **I love all the reviews I have so far! I'm so glad y'all are enjoying this! Also, in chapter 2 I made a small mistake when I wrote Callie in. I didn't realize it until after I posted so just ignore it. She won't be mentioned again.**

'We need to make wedding plans!" Jo said as a way of greeting.

"Hi princess, nice to see you too. Yes my day has great," Alex said sarcastically.

"I'm serious," Jo began taking food out of her brown sack. She took a big bite of her sandwich. "So we should start now." As much as she loved Cristina and Arizona, she was thankful that they hadn't arrived yet. And she was more thankful that Izzie wasn't there either. Maybe they scared her away from lunch yesterday.

"Alright,' he shrugged nonchalantly. 'Do you know who you want to invite?"

"Yeah, actually," she dug through her coat pockets. "I wrote it down." She handed Alex a piece of paper. He read it quickly but glanced at her with a weird expression.

"Why didn't you write Meredith or Yang down?"

He hoped she wasn't trying to imply that she was disliking Meredith (and somehow Cristina) again; thus, excluding them from the wedding.

"Oh," she said absentmindedly. "Well they're going to be your groomswomen so I didn't see a reason to write them down."

Alex couldn't keep the surprise from his voice. "You remembered that?" After he proposed for the first time, Jo had heard Alex telling Yang and Grey that they would be his groomswomen. He didn't have any guy friends that he was as close to as he was with them. It just made sense that way.

"Of course," she smiled that sexy smile of hers. It made his knees feel a tad weak.

"Do you know who your bridesmaids are yet?" he caressed her hand with his thumb. He was satisfied to see a blush on her cheeks.

"Stephanie, of course, will be one." He nodded. Edwards and Jo were very close. Edwards was the only one whom he didn't sleep with in Jo's year; mostly because she wasn't fooled by his charms.

"And I was thinking of asking Shane and Dr. Robbins." Ross wasn't a complete surprise. They were a little closer since he, along with Cristina, came back from Zurich. Robbins, however, was a surprise.

"You're asking Robbins?" he very well nearly spit out his soda.

'Is that a problem?" Jo furrowed her brows.

"No, no. I just didn't know you two were that close," he explained.

'She was my first mentor," she admitted.

'I thought Torres was?" Alex munched on a cookie.

"Well, yeah. Kind of. She mentored me in ortho but Robbins mentored me in other ways," Jo was wondering where Yang and Robbins were. Maybe they were in surgery.

Alex quirked an eyebrow to let her know to continue.

"She taught me to stand up for myself. And how to be a good surgeon. And she helped me realize how much I love you," the last part was spoken so softly Alex wouldn't of heard if he hadn't leaned in.

Alex's heart melted with pride. He was so proud of how much Jo had grown through all the changes from the beginning of her intern year to now.

"Do you know where you want the reception at?" his eyes sparkled with admiration.

"I was thinking the big hall on the third floor. That's where they held the prom," she replied.

Alex was perplexed. "How'd you know about the prom?"

"Word travels," she giggled. "I also know you helped organize it."

He held his hands up. "I was a jerk in those days," he said just in case she heard anything else.

She pretended to look confused. "But you're a jerk now. What's the difference?"

"What's your excuse?" he retorted. She smirked.

"I'm the princess that has to keep Evil Spawn in line."

"You really need to stop talking to Yang so much," he grumbled good naturedly.

"Back to the wedding plans, jerkface," she laughed a bit.

"So, music?" She freezes. He smirks. She obviously hasn't thought of that.

This is where he steps in to help her. His marriage to Izzie, if anything, helped him understand the wedding planning process.

"Kepner likes to sing," he pauses when she snorts. Like was an understatement. "She _loves_ to sing and I bet some of your friends do too. Why don't we have Mer bring her laptop and people can take turns singing?"

Jo had to admit that was a great idea. She was going to suggest no music or use her phone after she made a playlist. "Sounds good to me."

'What about food?" he questioned.

'How about just a cake? That way we can leave earlier and have hot wedding sex," she smiled seductively.

'I like the way you think," he had to shift a bit; his scrub pants felt awfully tight.

"What flavor?" they hadn't even dived into everything and she's already feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Chocolate," he said simply. She agreed.

"Do you want flowers?" Alex was curious to hear her answers. Since her first marriage was a disaster and she'd been strongly against marrying him; it was almost odd to see her so engaged in this.

Jo scrunched her face up. "Not really. Do you?"

"No."

He wondered if she's trying to make it simpler just because she thinks he wants it that way.

'Don't make it simple for me. I want this to be amazing for you."

Jo's heart skips a beat. Alex was the sweetest man she's ever met.

"Alex," she twirled a piece of his hair. "I'm not making it simple because of you. I'm making it simple because that's how I like it. But I won't say no to something you want; well, within reason." she winked.

Alex's pager beeped.

"Anything good?" Jo asked eagerly.

"Lots of trauma," he said. He looped his arm through hers.

"Ready, princess?" he loved to see the determination in her eyes.

"I was born ready, jerkface," she kissed him firmly on the mouth.

 **I figured after some drama y'all needed some Jolex cuteness. Hope you guys liked this chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The residents lounge was mostly empty; only being occupied by Jo, Stephanie, Ben Warren, and Leah.

Stephanie was worried for her friend. Bailey had shooed her away after she, against Dr. Steven's wishes, came with her to the chief's office. "Did you get in a lot of trouble?" This peeked Leah and Ben's interest; though Ben was subtler.

"In trouble with what?" Leah asked with her usual nosiness.

"Jo got written up by Steven's and she almost punched her," Stephanie informed her.

'Did she get sent to Bailey?" Leah pulled her scrub top off.

'Duh. But I don't know what happened. So tell us," Steph was eager to know.

Ben wanted to know what Miranda had done. His wife could be a little harsh sometimes.

Knowing they wouldn't leave her alone until she told them, she said, "Gave me a warning and said I could switch with someone else tomorrow so I won't be on her service. I'll ask Alex."

"You talking about me?" Speaking of the devil. Alex was standing there; leaning against the doorframe.

Leah, shirtless, squeaked and turned around rapidly.

Stephanie put her hands on her hips. "Get out Karev," she said sassily.

He was amused. "Now, Edwards. Is that the way to talk to your superior?"

Stephanie looked around. "I don't see one so yeah, it's fine."

Alex chuckled. Despite not knowing them very well, he enjoyed the company of Jo's friends. They reminded him of how he and his friends during their younger years.

Staring at Jo, he said, "You coming? Robbin's is leaving soon."

She sprang into action: hurriedly tying her shoes, she said distractedly, "Make sure she doesn't leave. I'll meet you by the nurse's station."

Shrugging in his typical Alex fashion, he told her, "Hurry up." He left without another word.

"Robbins, wait!" he panted. He leaned against the counter at the nurse's station for support. _I'm getting too old for this_.

Arizona turned around in surprise. "You alright, Karev? You're a bit winded."

He rolled his eyes. "No kidding."

She looked at watch and glanced at him. "So, what's up?"

Now that he caught his breath, he stood up straighter. "Jo wanted to ask you something."

Arizona raised an eyebrow. "And, where is she?"

"She's coming,' he assured her.

"Dr. Robbins!" Jo, like Alex, jogged to catch up to her. She was completely out of breath; she wasn't a runner. "I was wondering..." she trailed off, suddenly feeling shy.

"Yes?" Arizona waved her hand so Jo would continue.

"Would you be my bridesmaid?" Jo mumbled. Talking to her boss about cases was one thing; but conversing about something else was much more intimidating.

Arizona's jaw dropped and she stood like that for a minute: gaping.

Alex put his hands over Jo's ears.

'She's gonna blow," he muttered.

Arizona let out a very loud and girly squeal.

"Yes!" she practically screamed. "Of course!" she pushed Alex away from Jo so she could engulf her in a hug. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes-"

"We get it," Alex snorted. "You're doing it."

Jo elbowed his side roughly. He gasped a bit from the pain.

"Be nice," she told him sternly.

"Fine," he rolled his eyes again with a smile.

Arizona was impressed. "She sure keeps you in line, Karev."

Jo patted her fiancée's arm. "It took a lot of work. Every once in a while I let him off the leash for some freedom."

"Shut up," Another eye roll.

Arizona laughed until tears came to her eyes.

"Oh," she wiped the tears away. "That's the best thing I've ever heard. She's a keeper, Karev. Of course, you already know that."

Alex smiled softly. "I sure do." He hugged Jo from behind and rested his head on hers.

Smiling her perky Arizona smile, she asked excitedly, "Who are your other bridesmaids?"

'Steph and possibly Shane," Jo felt the butterflies in her stomach. In exactly six days she was getting married to the love of her life. She wanted to go on the rooftop and shout.

Arizona gazed at her watch again. 'Sorry, got to go. I'm picking up Sofia at the airport. I want to hear more wedding plans tomorrow!" she called over her shoulder as she headed to the elevators.

Jo, still in Alex's arms, looked up at him. "You're amazing, you know that, right?" They shared a kiss. It was exhilarating. Exciting. Every time they kissed it felt like the first time. Nobody made her feel this way except Alex. Alex made her feel like she mattered.

Alex pressed a kiss to her temple. "So are you. I love you much, Jo."

Jo's heart soared. She felt like a schoolgirl.

"I love you too, Alex," she closed her eyes to savor the moment. One of many moments.  
"Why don't we go home," he suggested. "We need sleep."

Jo let out an "Mhm" though she was skeptical of his motives. He was looking jittery almost. And Alex never just went to sleep without sex; unless he was dead tired or one of them wasn't home. She shrugged it off and started walking to the elevators but Alex grabbed her hand. "Let's take the stairs," he said with a bit of urgency.

Okay, something was definitely up. "But that's the long way," Jo glanced at him suspiciously. "You never go that way after a long shift." She was right and he knew it. He shifted a bit, uncomfortably. Did he not expect to be questioned?

"Let's just go." Now he was pleading.

"Why?"

"Be-because," he stuttered "I'm tired." He was pouting now.

"If you're so tired than take the elevator," Jo was beginning to get impatient.

"No," he protested. "Let's take the stairs."

"You take the stairs and I'll take the elevator!" She exclaimed. "I'm tired of arguing."

"Arguing about what?" Stephanie appeared; carrying her bag of dirty scrubs. "What did you do now?" she directed her question to Alex.

'I," he emphasized, "did nothing. She won't cooperate."

Jo stared at him incredulously. " _I_ won't cooperate?"

"I should go," Steph mumbled under her breath. She really didn't want to be in the middle of their fight.

"Yes you!" Alex huffed. "Why can't you just take the stairs?"

"Why can't you just take the elevator?" Jo shot back.

Stephanie looked at the both of them like they'd grown a second head. " _That's_ what you're arguing about? Seriously?"

The couple crossed their arms stubbornly.

"I'm living with a bunch of kindergartners," Steph rubbed her face tiredly.

"Look," she began. "If he's so persistent than just take the stairs! It's one time, right?" she looked at Alex for confirmation.

'Right," he nodded.

"Just do it please," she begged Jo. "I don't want to hear you guys fighting tonight."

Jo mumbled something about Alex sleeping on the couch and headed in the direction of the stairs; visibly annoyed.

Alex grinned widely, which, if Steph was being honest, creeped her out. "Thanks, Edwards," he sounded sincere.

"You're welcome," she was so confused. Alex Karev was a mystery that Steph was sure she'd never figure out.

Alex Joined Jo when she was halfway down the long flight of stairs. His heart was racing and he was sure he looked nervous.

He nudged her shoulder.

"What?" Jo snapped grumpily.

Alex blinked. She was just in a good mood; just telling him that she loved him. Chicks were strange creatures.

"What's up with you?"

Jo sighed.

"I'm tired, Alex. And hungry. I just want to be in bed."  
He frowned for a moment before yawning an obnoxious (and clearly fake) yawn.

"Yeah, I'm tired too," his face lit up; he had and idea.

"Wanna spoon?" he smirked. They were outside now; nearly to the car.

Jo laughed sarcastically. "Gonna be hard to do that if you're not in bed."

'Why won't I be in bed?"

"You're sleeping on the couch," she told him matter-of-factly.

"You can't be serious," he scowled.

Jo hopped in the car, leaning her head on the window. When the car didn't start, she looks to see Alex was still outside; arms crossed with a pouty look on his handsome face. She bit back a grin. Pouty Alex was adorable.

'Dude," her voice is muffled from the window still being up but she knows he can hear her. 'Get in. I thought we were going home?"

For what seemed like the hundredth time that night, he rolled his eyes and obliged.

The car ride was silent for the most part. Alex was in deep thought and Jo was almost nodding off.

He glanced over to her. "Don't fall asleep."

"Why?" she groaned loudly. "I told you I'm tired."

"I don't want to have to carry you inside."

"Wow, what a romantic you are," Jo said sarcastically. She would be lying if his comment wasn't a little hurtful.

'We're here," he said as he put the car in park. "Don't get out yet."

Jo stared blankly when he opened the car door for her.

"Oh, _now_ you're nice."

"Just open the door, princess," he followed her to the door.

"Fine, whatever. I swear, if we weren't getting married soon I'd-" her jaw dropped when she opened the door.

"Oh, Alex!' she cried.

 **I wanted to address something: one of the reviews I got today (that has since been deleted) was extremely rude. I'm all for constructive criticism but that review had none of that.**

 **If any of you don't like the Izzie bashing than please don't read this. The review said that it was childish for and author to do that-in no way am I trying to act that way.**

 **Anyways, thank you to all who are loving this story! I'm trying to at least update every other day, if not every day.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Oh, Alex!" she cried.

Alex noticed tears brimming in Jo's eyes and began streaming down her face. He panicked. Had he done something wrong?

'You-you did all this..for me?" Jo's voice cracked.

The hallway was beautiful: an array of rose petals led up to the kitchen. Different colored lights were lined on the floor just above the petals; making a gorgeous path.

The kitchen was even better. The table was set and decorated with heavenly smelling candles. The island was covered in photos of them shaped like a heart. It was all so perfect.

No one in her life had ever done something like that for her.

'Well, technically I didn't," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I had help."

Jo, not trusting her voice to speak, rushed into his arms to give him a bone crushing hug.

Alex, unsure of what to do or say, just patted her back. "I take it you like it? Because if you don't than I'll be really offended," he joked lightly.

She smacked his chest. "Of course, I like it, jerk! Is this..is this why you wanted to take the stairs?" She felt awful for the petty argument earlier.

He chuckled. "Yeah. I didn't think they'd get done so fast."

'They? Who is they?" she questioned.

"DeLuca, Pierce, and some intern."

"How did you manage to get DeLuca to help?" Jo asked wearily. "Tell me you didn't threaten him."

I didn't," Alex rolled his eyes. "Pierce convinced him. They're a thing again, didn't you hear?"

"No,"Jo was relieved to hear. The whole beating, almost going to jail scenario had been very stressful She didn't want to go through that again.

Alex started to get a little anxious. "C'mon, sit down." He led her to her seat than took something that Jo couldn't see out of the oven.

He sat down two plates full of food for them down.

" _You_ made lasagna?" She asked with a teasing glint in her eyes. "And the house is still standing? Who helped you?" she took a bite. It tasted so good!

'Ha ha,' he deadpanned. "No one."

When Jo looked unconvinced, he added, "This may surprise you, princess but I _did_ cook for people."

"And they lived?" Jo gasped.

'Shocking, right?" He agreed. "I used to cook for Aaron and Amber all the time."

Seeing as now they were on a touchy subject, Jo chose her words carefully. "What about your mom? Didn't you cook for her too?"

Alex shook his head. "She didn't remember to eat most of the time and if she did, it was usually something that didn't need to be cooked."

She nodded, not knowing what else to say.

He swallowed. 'Do you like it?"

"The food? Yeah, it's great," she smiled.

"No, I meant everything else," he corrected.

"Oh. Yeah of course! Was this all your idea?" she asked, looking around. It was so perfect. She didn't want the night to end.

"Yeah," he said modestly thought Jo could see in his eyes that was proud of what he did.

'Alex...this is amazing," she told him honestly.

'Shut up," he blushed.

"No, really," she argued. "And you know what this means?"

"What?"

"You have no excuse not to be sweet again," she laughed.

He sighed heavily with fake disappointment. "Crap."

Jo finished the last bits of her meal. _He's cooking more often_.

"So, what's the occasion?" she motioned to everything around them. 'For this?"

Alex looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, I, uh," he stuttered. "I wanted to do something nice since we were broken up for a while," he said the last part quietly.

Jo smiled sadly. The breakup had been difficult for the both of them.

"I'm sorry," she apologized suddenly.

"For what?" he tilted his head. Jo almost grinned. He was too cute.

"The breakup," she whispered, looking down. "It was stupid. I shouldn't have been jealous of Meredith. She's your best friend and I respect that."

"Jo," Alex reached for her hand. "You had a right to be jealous." His comment made her head shot up surprise. "I did?'

"Yeah," he confessed. "I should've made time for you too. It was my fault and I'm sorry."

Jo grasped his hand tightly. "I'm never letting you go again," she stated. "Next time we have a problem we're working it out in the moment."

"Sounds good to me, princess."

The couple stared into each other's eyes; each thinking about how lucky they were to have each other. All her life, Jo never really had anyone to call her family (Paul and Peckwell certainly didn't count). It was great to finally have that privilege.

She wondered about the coming days. They still needed someone to officiate and she still needed a dress. Ugh, she made a face. She really didn't want to go dress shopping.

"What's that face for?" Alex asked in amusement.

"I still have to go dress shopping," Jo sighed like her life was over. "Can I not? We can wear our scrubs, we'll probably have to work that day anyway or at least be on call."

Alex thought it over. 'It's up to you, JoJo."

Silence.

"Jo Jo?" Jo gave him a death glare.

He burst out laughing. 'One of the kids on the peds floor was asking for Dr. JoJo." His eyes glistened with tears from his laughter.

Jo scowled. "If you even think about calling me that again you'll never see me naked again."

Alex made a "hemp" sound. "Like you'll be able to last."

"Anyways," _Men_. "I'll have to think about that. Steph will probably kill me but I'm not sure I wanna deal with all that crap. And besides," she eyed him coyly. "You did meet me in my scrubs. We could make it special," she felt a little silly when he looked surprised. "Or not. Never mind."

'No," he said softly. "That's a great idea."

"Scrubs it is than," she decided.

"We're going to have the most untraditional wedding," Alex felt happier than he ever felt with Izzie. The feeling of getting married to Jo was thrilling. He was going to be married to the love of his life. Only Meredith and Cristina (and unfortunately Edwards, who overheard) knew of how deeply he felt toward Jo. Of course, everyone else knew he was very much in love with her.

"And it's going to be the best wedding," Jo vowed.

"You want to go to bed? I'll clean it up tomorrow." Alex was feeling quite tired now.

"Sure, just hold on a sec," she quickly snapped a few pictures with her phone. "There."

Jo linked arms with Alex and was about to head upstairs when the front door opened. It was Stephanie. Her eyes widened when she got a good look at everything.

"Oh my,' was all she said. "Did you...wow."

"You have a way with words," Alex said sarcastically.

Stephanie stared right at Jo. "I told you he was a romantic."

"I'm _not_ a romantic," Alex said with mock disgust.

"You are kind of," Jo disagreed.

Alex rolled his eyes with a smile.

Stephanie nodded in approval. Despite getting off on the wrong foot in the beginning, Karev was the best man for Jo. He was exactly what she needed. As was she for him.

"Well," Steph yawned. "I'm gonna head to bed. Long shift tomorrow. Night Jo. Night Karev."

"Night Steph!"

"See ya Edwards."

Jo was about to go up the stairs again when Alex stopped her. "Wait."

"What now? Should I expect a choir to sing for me?" she inquired with sass.

Alex didn't say anything. He suddenly lifted her up in his arms so he's carrying her bridal style. Startled, she squeaked. She soon relaxed and nuzzled in his chest.

"Better than a choir?" he murmured in her ear.

"Way better."

Once they arrived at the bedroom Alex reluctantly laid her on the bed. She felt so good in his arms.

He unzipped his jeans and threw on an old pair of basketball shorts. He kept his t-shirt on. He watched Jo undress. She wore one of his t-shirts and-surprise surprise-one of his shorts,

He hugged her from behind. "You should wear my clothes more often."

"I should," she agreed. "They're so comfortable."

She untangled from his embrace and pushed him down on the bed. She was strong for a woman,

She had the look in her eyes; the look of fire, a good fire. The fire of passion.

"You're gorgeous," Alex breathed. He maneuvered over to the middle of the bed so she could straddle him.

They kissed passionately. Each kiss was a declaration of their undying passion and love for each other. They kept this up until their lungs begged for air.

Rolling over to their respective sides of the bed, they panted.

Jo confided in Stephanie that she was excited for the wedding sex they were sure to have. Not because she wanted to have sex, no; she was excited, she was thrilled, to be intimate with the man she loved so dearly. It would be better than any sex they've had before. This meant they were a unified couple. And that was what Jo wanted.

'What are you thinking about?" Alex brushed a few strands of hair from her face,

"Wedding sex," she answered truthfully.

Alex being Alex, smirked. 'Want to get a head start?"

Jo snorted. He was lucky he was attractive.

He pulled her closer to his side. 'What about it?" He became serious.

"This is going to sound cheesy so don't laugh," she sighed. "When we have our wedding sex it won't be like the sex we have now, you know? We'll be like one." Her tone dropped when she started becoming insecure at what she was saying.

"I know what you mean," he shocked her. "I've...I've been thinking about that too."

'The great Alex Karev was thinking about sex and it wasn't just about how great he is?" she teased him. "Why, this is a miracle!"

"So you admit I'm great," he smiled triumphantly.

"Whatever,' she rolled her eyes.

They laid there for a few minutes; thinking.

'Do you think I'll be a great wife?" Jo randomly asked.

Alex blinked. "Of course. Why wouldn't you be?"

Jo fiddled with the hem of Alex's shorts she was wearing. "I haven't exactly been a great girlfriend, or fiancée for that matter. I've kept things...Alex, I didn't even tell you I was married while we dated." She blinked rapidly, trying to keep the tears at bay.

Alex didn't say anything. He gathered Jo into his arms; pressing kisses to her forehead. "You were scared. I know I didn't understand at first but now I do. I do and I don't blame you." He paused. 'What makes you think you're not a great fiancee?"

'Well," Jo hesitated. "Steph and I were talking today, when you told me to go study." He nodded to show he understood. "And we did talk about Izzie somewhat." He winched. He had a feeling as to where this was going. "And she overheard us. She wrote me up for disobeying you and bad mouthing a boss. She said I'm on her service tomorrow and I have to do all her post op's. I don't get surgeries.' Alex opened his mouth but Jo shushed him. 'So she was acting really crappy and when she told me to watch my tone I just...I almost punched her, Steph held me back." Alex laid there, shocked. 'You almost punched her?"

"Yeah... She took me to Bailey's office. I was so scared I was getting fired. But Bailey told her she could leave and she told me I wasn't in trouble. She gave me a warning and said I would be on probation if I actually did punch her. And she said I could switch with someone for tomorrow. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," she buried her face in his chest; fearing what he might say. She hoped she just didn't ruin their evening. Or worse, their engagement.

But Alex did the most unexpected thing: he laughed.

'Why...why are you laughing?" Jo asked, completely flabbergasted.

"You almost punched Izzie," he laughed.

'So?" she was still confused. "So what?"

"Izzie once fought someone from Mercy West who came when the hospital merged. She almost fought her for taking the cubby of our dead colleague. I've never heard of someone almost fighting Izzie," he laughed so hard tears came to his eyes.

"So you're not mad?" Jo was relieved.

"Not in the least," he ruffled her already messed up hair. "My little fighter."

'Shut up," Jo drew circles on his chest.

"But the point is," he sobered up, "you're not a bad fiancée and you won't be a bad wife."

"You're sure?" Jo hated feeling so insecure. It made her feel so weak.

'Very sure."

"I love you, Alex Karev," she blushed when he stared into her eyes with that burning love he felt.

'And I love you too, Jo Wilson." His fingers grazed her side, which was bare from her shirt riding up. The touch made her shiver.

'And you can always ask Robbins if you can be on her service. She's been wanting you anyway," he informed her. "I'd take you but I have to teach some idiot interns and I can't be distracted by you," he winked at her.

" _I_ distract you? You like to 'accidentally' touch my butt or some other crap," she flicked him.

He smirked but said nothing else.

Jo yawned and snuggled into him. They were almost asleep when they heard a voice downstairs yell,

"What's with all this crap?"

 **I hope you guys liked this chapter!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Jo groaned when the blinding sunlight forced her eyes to open. She was having _such_ a good dream.

"Finally awake, sleeping beauty/" Alex teased, coming out of the bathroom. He was already dressed in his scrubs. Mmm, dark navy blue looked good on him.

Jo propped herself up with her elbows. "If you hadn't exhausted me last night than I might've had enough energy to do it again." Her eyes twinkled.

Alex took a step toward the bed, grinning. "I can help wake you up."

"You're going to have sex? _Again_?" A voice floated through the wall.

"Yang," Alex muttered furiously,

Jo burst out into a fit of giggles. Cristina interrupted at the most inconvenient times.

"So, what was with all the crap?" Cristina asked when she, Alex, and Jo got to the elevator.

Alex sighed with exasperation. "I was doing something nice for Jo."

Jo's hand rubbed his back gently. "And it was very sweet. I might just have to return the favor," she winked.

Cristina held up her hand to silence the resident. "I asked about the crap, not the fairy tale you call your love life."

Alex pressed the button for the third floor. "What's with you and Hunt?" he asked snarkily.

Cristina was silent for a moment.

"He's with Shepard. You know that."

Jo pulled Alex to the back of the elevator.  
"That wasn't nice,' she whispered sternly.

"So? It's just Yang. She's fine," he whispered back.

The elevator reached the third floor and Cristina got off without another glance at the couple.

"See what you did," Jo shook her head. She left to go to the resident's lounge while not noticing Alex's stare.

"Men are idiots," Jo said when she arrived. Stephanie and Leah nodded in agreement. Ben and Shane stared at each other as if to say _Who? Us?_

"They just say whatever they think," she continued her rant, "like it won't hurt anyone's feelings."

"Jo," Stephanie interjected. "As much i'd like to talk about the downfalls of men,' she ignored Ben and Shane's protests, "What did Karev do?"

Jo finished changing into her scrubs. "He asked Cristina about Hunt."

Leah and Stephanie grimaced "Ouch."

"Right!" she put her white coat on. "And he said she was fine. She wasn't fine!"

"Want to hear my opinion?" Ben offered.

"No," the girls chorused.

Shane snickered.

"As I was saying," Ben began. "Sometimes we men have a habit of saying what we think. We aren't built like women; all sensitive. Sometimes it's an act to impress women or it's just how we are." By now, Shane was staring at Ben like he was a God. The girls, who had stopped what they were doing to listen, rubbed their faces as if they had a headache.

'Wow," Jo was looking at Ben like he was stupid. "Just wow."

'You're an idiot," Stephanie snorted.

Leah just nodded.

"Hey Jo."

The group turned to see Andrew DeLuca at the doorway. He was smiling knowingly.

'Did you like the surprise?"

"Yeah I did! Thank you for helping Alex," Jo smiled gratefully. "And tell Dr. Pierce I said thank you."

"You got it," he nodded. 'Karev's gonna get me in a bind, I swear," he laughed a bit.

Jo looked at him questioningly. DeLuca explained good naturedly, "Maggie kept telling me how sweet he was for what he was doing. Probably expects me to do the same."

"What did he do?" Leah demanded to know.

Jo showed Leah, ben and Shane the pictures on her phone.

"Wow," Leah gasped. "That's amazing."

Ben nodded in acknowledgment. He knew Karev could do good if he wanted to. Shane looked seemingly unimpressed. It wasn't a big deal really. He couldn't understand why the girls gawked over it.

Stephanie, already having seen it, said, "If I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't believe Karev did it."

"I gotta admit," Deluca spoke up, "I was surprised myself. You picked a good one, Jo." This made her smile.

"Yeah, I did," she agreed. She looked at her friends and sighed. Despite that he said whatever came to mind, she loved him. And that would never change.

'I gotta go, guys," she made her way out of the lounge. "Oh, and Shane,' she asked over her shoulder. "Would you be my brideman?"

"Sure," he said without much thought.

"Thank you!"

And after giving DeLuca a hug and thanking him one last time; she went to find Alex.

"There you are," she said once she found him. He was on the peds floor; looking through charts. She almost didn't want to disturb him. He had the sexiest face when he was concentrating.

"Yeah," he studied her face. "I take it you're not mad anymore?"

"No," she admitted, slightly blushing. "I'm sorry I got mad. It was stupid. Ben Warren tried to explain to me why guys just say things," she said with a laugh.

"Because we're stupid,' Alex put his arm around her.

"That's true," she poked his cheek.

"How are you doing, Miss Aly?" Alex asked her. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that her mother wasn't there.

"Fine I guess," Aly finished a text than put her phone beside her.

'Aly," he sat on the edge of her bed. "You know your baby has to come out soon."

'I know but," she gave him her best puppy dog eyes. "Can't it wait? Isn't it like, supposed to wait till like, I dunno, thirty-nine weeks?"

'Under normal circumstances, yes,' Jo spoke for the first time. "But waiting could compromise your health and your baby's. You might not even make it to thirty weeks."

'She's right,' Alex said. "Aly, to do this safely, we need you to deliver in the next few days."

"But my baby won't make it," she argued, angrily. "Why should I even try?"

Alex struggled with his words. He didn't want to make any promises he couldn't keep. But he also didn't want to drain any hope she had.

"I will do everything I can to keep your baby alive," he promised firmly.

"Do you believe him/'

Aly made Jo snap back to reality.

'Hmm?'

"Do you trust him?" Aly repeated, looking from Alex to Jo. 'You're gonna marry him. Do you think he can save my baby?"

'Yes,' Jo nodded honestly. "I do. Dr. Karev is very talented in what he does."

Alex's eyes softened and almost teared up at her praise. He wasn't sure why her words affected him so easily. Perhaps it was because Izzie had never praised him for anything. He always felt like a failure.

"Dr Karev, are you okay?" Aly was concerned.

"Huh?" he sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. Rest and hopefully in the next few days that little stinker will come out,' he grinned when she giggled.

'Okay. Oh and Dr. Wilson, what colors are you doing for your wedding?" Aly was curious.

"Actually, we're just wearing our scrubs. No colors or themes or crap," Jo unconsciously trailed her thumb over her engagement ring.

You're not wearing a wedding dress?" Aly's eyes widened. 'That's like, so wrong."

Alex and Jo laughed.

"We're making it special," Alex told her. "I met her in scrubs and I want to marry her in scrubs."

"That's totally romantic!" Aly exclaimed.

"Dr. Karev is a total romantic. Whether or not he chooses to admit it," Jo kissed his temple. "He's my big softie."

Alex jokingly made a face.

Jo's pager beeped.

"Sorry, Aly. I've got to go. See you at lunch," she kissed Alex's lips.

'Bye Dr. Wilson!"

Alex watched her leave with a soft smile.

"Dude, you're totally in love with her,' Aly stated the obvious.

'That I am, Aly,' Alex grinned. "That I am."

Cristina was in the skills lab; practicing for a future heart surgery with an infant that was upcoming. She was enjoying the peace and quiet; that is, until a certain Izzie Stevens barged in unannounced.

"I need your help," Izzie said breathlessly.

Her interruption made Cristina break her concentration. Her suture on what would've been the aorta broke; much to her irritation.

"What?" she asked in a snippy voice. She hadn't been in a great mood since Alex asked about Owen. Owen..her heart broke a little when she thought about him. Her sadness only made her work harder and longer. She never left the lab except for one bathroom break. Shane had caught her on the way back and wanted to practice with her. Usually, she didn't mind; but not today. Today she needed to be alone.

I need you to help me with Alex," Izzie was desperate. "He isn't paying attention to me!"

"Probably because he doesn't like you," Cristina bluntly said as she looked into the microscope. Ugh, she didn't have time for this.

"Please!" Izzie flung herself at the table. "I'm desperate."

"I know," Cristina said in a "duh" tone.

"Please," Izzie was begging down. "I need him."

Cristina slammed her hand down on the table, making Izzie jump.

"You don't need him, you want him. You want to be able to laugh in Jo's face about it. You don't love Alex, you think you love him. You think you want to have a life with him; but you don't. You won't stay with him. You'll bail at the slightest hint of conflict. Jo, she's in it for the long haul. She loves him for him. She knows he's not perfect and she doesn't want to change it."

'I don't want to change him!" Izzie shrieked. That was absurd!

Cristina peeled off her gloves and crossed her arms. "Well you obviously don't like how he is now."

"Cristina, you don't get it. He's a _pediatric_ surgeon!" Izzie said in a whisper, as if it was a crime.

'And that's bad, because?"

"The Alex I know wanted to be a plastics surgeon," Izzie shook her head madly. "That she devil forced him to change his specialty."

"Who Jo?"

"Yes her!" Izzie shrieked again.

Cristina rolled her eyes. "Alex changed his specialty long before he met Hairball."

This made the blonde quiet down. _I thought she'd never shut up_ , Cristina grabbed another set of gloves.

Izzie propped herself with her elbows; her head in her hands.

"Do you like her? Jo?" Izzie asked with a crazy smile. "It's okay, I won't tell."

 _Deep, calming breaths,_ Cristina reminded herself.

"Hairball may have her flaws but she's decent. Alex loves her and she's never given me a reason not to like her," the cardio surgeon shrugged. "Unless of course, they're having sex constantly, than I could do without that. I haven't been able to sleep when they're at it."

Izzie covered her ears. "I refuse to hear about their immature sex life."

This made Cristina grin. "Oh what they're doing is anything but immature."

A nasty feeling stirred up in Izzie's stomach. 'Cristina!" she squealed.

"What?" she shrugged again. "Just being informative."

Izzie felt helpless. Cristina was her best friend. She should be being supportive! She was there when she dated and married Alex; so why was she acting like Izzie was being the bad guy? If anything, Jo was the bad guy. She was awful to Alex. She wasn't a girlfriend. No, she was a child. Was she even thirty?

"Do they even have a normal relationship?" Izzie asked suddenly.

Cristina, who had started practicing again, barely glanced up. "What?"

"Do they have a normal relation? She's pretty young."

'So?"

Izzie sighed with annoyance. Cristina just wasn't getting it.

"Doesn't he feel awkward dating someone so young? She calls him names and teases him too much. She probably hurts his feelings," Izzie recollected. Her poor Alex.

Cristina snorted. "I think he's fine."

Izzie started pacing the lab; muttering under her breath every so often.

"You know," a grin spread over Cristina's face. " Wilson probably makes him feel young."

"How so?"

An evil glint formed in Cristina's eyes. "She probably knows a lot more moves the kids are using these days. If you know what I mean."

"Ugh!" Izzie bolted out of the lab; angry at her coworker's lack of sympathy.

Cristina just laughed. She was beginning to wonder how Izzie was going to handle the wedding; not that she was invited.

Cristina snorted at the thought of Izzie crashing the wedding. She wouldn't do that, would she?

 **How was that? I was really looking forward to writing about Cristina and Izzie lol.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Izzie Stevens was feeling angrier then she ever had in her life. How dare Cristina joke about her Alex and that lowlife in bed; having _sex_. That was low, even for her.

After running away from the lab, Izzie found herself in the waiting area; mindlessly looking around.

. Why couldn't every accept that she and Alex were meant to be? Why couldn't Alex accept it? Everyone made her to be the bad guy when she was just trying to warn Alex!

Why did everyone want him and Wilson together anyway? Wilson wasn't what Alex needed. He needed someone his own age. Someone who understood him. Izzie scoffed. She bet that the resident didn't even know much about him. Perhaps she was a one-night stand that just stuck with him. Yes, that's it! She obviously wanted his money since he's an attending and Alex was too kind to break it off (her heart melted at the thought of her Alex being so sweet), so he puts up with it. She probably forces him to be affectionate, too!

 _I've got to stop this_.

Izzie didn't know how though. Her friends hated her. Alex hated her. Bailey hated her. How is she supposed to warn Alex when no one was listening to her?

"Excuse me?"

Izzie looked up. A nervous looking young man was looking at her, clutching a chart as though his life depended on it.

'What?" Izzie snapped, not caring that she was getting looks from others around her.

The young man spluttered. "Uh, I'm Dr. Cross. Did you have a family member that I can check on?"

Oh, he thinks she's there waiting for someone. _He's probably an intern_ , she assumes. He looks too nervous for an attending.

"I'm Dr. Stevens, the new OB,' she said coldly. "I'm just sitting here thinking. Is that a problem?"

Dr. Cross looked even _more_ nervous if it was possible. "N-no. I'm sorry to disturb you." He turned to leave.

A bell goes off in Izzie's head. He was just below Wilson's class. He might know her!

"Wait!" she caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

The young doctor turned back in surprise. "Yes?"

Izzie put on a fake sweet and, what she hoped to be, a very sexy smile. "I was wondering if you could help me with something?"

Now the doctor was intrigued. "With?" he motioned for her to continue.

"Do you know a Dr. Wilson?" Izzie asked innocently.

Dr. Cross's eyes widened before he sheepishly smiled. "I do. Did you need her? I can page her."

"No, no," she shook her head. "I'm new and I'm just trying to get to know everyone. Has Dr. Wilson and Dr. Karev been in a relationship long?' she asked quickly. She looked around to make sure no one heard her. Phew, good so far.

Dr. Cross looked thoughtful. "From what I heard yes. They dated for a while then broke up and got back together again."

'Why did they break up?" Izzie was eager for information.

Dr. Cross was hesitant. "I'm not sure if I should tell you," he whispered. "I don't want to gossip." He looked ashamed. "More than I've done already."

"Oh, you're not gossiping," she assured him, touching his arm. "I just want to know. I won't tell anyone." She batted her eyelashes for good effect.

"Okay, well," he began. "From what I heard Karev wasn't giving Dr. Wilson enough time. He was spending a lot of time with Dr. Grey and Dr. Wilson was tired of him proposing so she just broke it off. It wasn't as bad as the fight though," he clamped his mouth shut after saying the last part.

'What fight?" Izzie asked immediately. 'Did Wilson fight Dr. Karev?" If that lowlife touched him...

"What? No!" Dr. Cross gasped. 'I mean between Karev and Dr. DeLuca."

Izzie had heard of Dr. DeLuca. He was dating Dr. Pierce, the cardio surgeon. He was attractive, she had to admit, but not a attractive as her Alex.

"Why did they fight?" Izzie questioned. It couldn't have been recently; Alex didn't have a cut on him.

"From what I've heard, Karev walked in on DeLuca putting Jo to bed. She was drunk but Karev didn't give DeLuca a chance to explain,' Dr. Cross paid no attention to the raging emotions that played across Izzie's face.

"And then,' he continued. "Dr. Karev was at the hospital and the police came to arrest him. He got bailed out but almost got convicted of a felony for assault." Izzie gasped.

'Eventually DeLuca dropped the charges. He didn't want Jo to be hurt by all of this. Funny thing is that they're sort of friends now!" he finished cheerfully.

Izzie couldn't believe what she just heard. Her poor Alex was arrested... and almost thrown in prison! And it was all because of Wilson.

'H-how did they get back together?" she choked out.

"Well when the fire happened, you've heard about the fire, right?" She nodded so he continued, "Dr. Karev thought Dr. Wilson was dead. She was with Dr. Edwards and a little girl in the fire. They all made it out safely and Dr. Wilson said yes to his proposal."

Unbelievable. Un-freaking-believable.

"Of course, she did," Izzie said harshly. Dr. Cross was surprised by her reaction.

"Do you not like Dr. Wilson?'

This was perfect. A completely perfect time to tell the truth about the she devil.  
"Dr. Wilson is a liar," she said suddenly. Dr. Cross looked shocked.

"What?"

'She's a liar," she repeated simply. "She says she loves Al-Dr. Karev but she really doesn't. She's playing him."

Dr. Cross looked hurt; very hurt. "Than what I heard was wrong," he muttered quietly.

'Heard what?' Izzie asked sharply.

Dr. Cross looked uncomfortable. "Well...Almost two months ago I heard Dr. Wilson talking to Dr. DeLuca and she said she had lived in her car when she was sixteen; her mother abandoned her at a fire station when she was two weeks old; she left an abusive marriage so she hadn't been able to divorce him. Did she really lie?" the poor young doctor whispered, upset.

Izzie nodded with a fake sympathetic frown. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you. She did. She lied. I'm so sorry. Dr. Cross."

The young man dropped his head down. "That's okay. Thank you for telling me, Dr. Stevens."

"No problem,"

Dr. Cross bid her goodbye and left her to her own thoughts.

Smirking, she did a little victory dance. Dr. Cross would surely tell his fellow interns who would tell everyone else. It was perfect! That little resident would beg to quit if she wasn't fired. She continued her dance until she hit someone.

"Excuse you!" The woman dusted herself off. "I would appreciate it if you would watch where you're going."

Izzie refrained from gasping. It was Catherine Avery of the Harper Avery Foundation! She'd heard that Catherine had bought the hospital but she hadn't been talked to her until now. The woman was a legend!

"Oh, yes! I'm so sorry. It will never happen again," Izzie stated apologetically.

'I should hope not," Catherine Avery huffed.

'I'm Dr. Stevens, by the way," Izzie extended her hand. "I was hired as the new OB."

Cather raised her eyebrows. "Ah, yes. I saw you at Dr. Karev and Dr. Wilson's engagement party." She didn't seem too pleased.

Izzie's smile faltered. How had she not known that Catherine Avery was there?

"Dr. Avery," she said in what she hoped was a professional tone.

"Yes?" she sounded impatient.

"I was not myself when you saw me at the party."

'Excuse me?"

"I don't think I should explain it out there," Izzie pretended to sound somewhat concerned.

"Come with me in the conference room," Catherine began leading the way.  
"Of course," Izzie smirked.

Jo Wilson wouldn't have a job when she was finished.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Hey, you," Jo said cheerfully; kissing Alex's cheek.

"Hey,' he welcomed her into his arms. It felt so good to hold her after a long shift. "You getting off too?"

"Mhmm," she inhaled some of Alex's cologne. It smelled heavenly.

Alex handed the charge nurse the last of his charts. "You know," he turned to face Jo, "I could cook dinner for us if you want."

"Oh, Alex,' she laughed. "You're spoiling me."

Alex stared into her eyes serious; effectively stopping Jo's laughter.

'Alex, what?" she sounded a bit worried.

He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. 'I _want_ to spoil you."

Relaxing, she melts into his touch. "I guess I'll have to spoil you too," she smiled naughtily.

"It's about time," he smiled teasingly.

"Lucky for you, I just have post op's that I can easily pass off to an intern." She spotted Cross coming down the hallway. Oddly, his usually nervous face was angry. Cross was never angry. Oh well, Jo inwardly shrugged. Patient problems, she supposed.

"Hey Cross," she stopped his walking. "Can you do my post ops for me?" Having an intern that had a crush on her was super convenient. Not that she would say that to Alex; his ego was big enough without knowing he was right. _Again_.

'Do your own post ops," Cross snarled, pushing past her.

"Cross!" Jo was shocked. She'd never, ever, seen the young man lash out. He was always so even tempered; so goofy.

'What's wrong with dopey?' Cristina asked, coming beside Alex; startling him.

Jo glanced back at them, completely bewildered. "He was fine earlier. I've never seen him so angry."

Alex, however, was less than concerned with Cross's well being. "Are you alright?' he asked, referring to Cross pushing Jo out of the way.

"I'm fine," Jo appreciated Alex's concern but sometimes he could be worse than an overprotective father. "I'll do my post op's than we can enjoy our evening." She crawled her fingers up Alex's chest.

"I'll have one of my interns do them," Cristina said distractedly while looking at another chart. 'Consider it my wedding present."

'Thank you, Dr. Yang!" Jo said gratefully.

'Yeah, whatever."

Alex leaned on the counter, studying Yang's face. "Why are you being so nice?"

Jo smacked him. 'Alex!"

'What are you talking about?" Cristina didn't look up from her chart.

"You're being nice," Alex repeated. "And you only do that when you want something. What do you want?"

Cristina flipped a page, still not bothering to look up. "Did you know Bobby Hayes has a heart murmur? Why didn't I see this earlier?"

Alex gritted his teeth. "They just found it today."

"Ah, yes. Thank you, Evil Spawn."

Jo was trying very hard not to laugh. Cristina was deliberately ignoring his question and finding every opportunity to change the subject.

"Oh, Hairball," Cristina spoke directly to Jo, 'when are you going dress shopping? Mer was asking." She snorted a bit. 'She's expecting me to go along. I just need to know when it is so I know when to play sick."

Jo laughed. "I'm not going dress shopping. We're all wearing scrubs. We wanted to make it special."

If Cristina had been drinking anything it wouldn't been spit out. "Evil Spawn wants to do something _special_?" she slapped his face not so lightly.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Stop being a big baby," Cristina eyed him. "Have you finally gone skitszo?"

"Shut up,' Alex growled.

"Oh my God," Cristina chuckled. "You've done it."

"Done what?" Alex asked with a thin line of patience.

"The frat boy has grown up. You've matured," she snorted. 'Wait until Mer hears this."

Alex ignored her. 'You never did answer my question."

Cristina tapped her chin. "I know."

Alex sighed. Why he was still friends with her he'd never know.

"I'm officiating," Cristina declared casually.

"No," Alex said immediately.

"Why not?" Jo asked him, furrowing her brows.

"I'm not letting Yang officiate my wedding!"

" _Our_ wedding," Jo reminded him.

"Oh, but you have to," Cristina chuckled evilly.

Alex huffed. "And why do I?"

Cristina gave one of her odd smiles. "Because than I won't do Hairballs post op's. And that will make you both wait. Which means Evil Spawn doesn't get his nightly sex. And besides, what if I need help?"

"Ask Ross," Alex narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, but I want Wilson. I could keep her all night if I want to," Yang smirked.

Jo, whom was feeling quite exhausted already, glared at him daringly. _Don't. You. Dare._

Alex opened his mouth but Jo beat him to it. "You can officiate, Dr. Yang."

Alex pulled Jo aside; near to the elevators. "Are you freaking crazy?" he hissed quietly.

Jo stared at him defiantly. "You're one to talk."

'Yang is not officiating."

'Why not?" Jo didn't have time for his childish antics.

"Be-because! That's not how I imagined our wedding," he ran a hand through his hair, almost embarrassed.

Jo's face softened. "And how did you imagine it?" Her voice was soft.

Alex mumbled a bit and turned his head slightly. Jo grabbed his hands. "Alex. You can tell me. I won't laugh."

"I imagined it somewhat like a traditional wedding, you know. The church, the preacher, us not seeing each other the night before the wedding..."

"Oh, baby!" she kissed his lips softly. She wondered how she got so lucky. How on earth did she find a man this sweet?

"We don't have to," he started but was cut off.

"How about we have Cristina officiate us in a church and we won't see each other the night before?" she suggested.

Alex squeezed her butt which made her laugh. "I take that as a yes."

He bent down a little to her level. "Let's go home so I can take my scrubs off. I need you to examine me,, doctor," he whispered in a husky voice.

Jo's eyes dilated. 'Whatever you say, Dr. Karev," she replied back with a sultry tone.

 **Okay, kinda short I know. But the good stuff is coming later!**

 **To Kileyyyy: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying this!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Cristiana was bored. Really bored.

The hospital was slow: hardly any good traumas came through the ER. She didn't have any stupid residents reporting to her for idiotic reasons.

Yes, she was completely and utterly bored.

That was, until she saw Izzie Stevens walking out of the conference room with Catherine Avery following suite.

Now this was peeking her interest.

Izzie was walking ahead, every once and awhile looking back behind her and saying something that Cristina couldn't distinguish from watching her lips move. One thing was for sure, Izzie was up to something. She had the face of someone who was about to get everything she ever wanted.

 _Something's not right_ , Cristina frowned. Why was Catherine Avery looking so mad and Izzie so smug?

"Hello, Dr. Avery!" Cristina came out right in front of them, blocking their path. "Do you have another penis reconstruction?"

Cristina found it hard not to smirk at the aggravation on Izzie's face. Obviously, Cristina was not supposed stop and talk to them.

"No, dear. I'm looking for Dr. Wilson. Is she here or did she go home?" Catherine asked in her elegant tone.

"Uuuh." So that's what they wanted! What did Izzie tell her? Cristina wondered.

"Cristina," Izzie said sharply. "Dr. Avery asked you a question."

Cristina gritted her teeth, angrily. "She went home."

"With Dr. Karev?" Catherine's hands were on her hips.

'Yes."

"Hmmm," Catherine hummed disapprovingly.

"Cristina could call her," Izzie said eagerly. "We can talk to her than!"

"Talk to her about what?" Cristina asked suspiciously. What did they need to talk about that concerned the buyer of the hospital?

"It's really none of your business," Izzie said quickly but Catherine Avery raised her hand, shushing her.

"Nonsense, dear. Dr. Stevens informed me of Dr. Wilson's misdeeds."

"Misdeeds?" Cristina usually didn't care about her co-workers but she was growing more concerned with every word that Dr. Avery spoke. "What misdeeds?"

'Dr. Wilson is liar," Izzie said, her face smug again. 'A dirty liar."

Cristina looked at disbelievingly. Hairball may be annoying, sarcastic, a sex addict but she wasn't a liar.

"She told Dr. DeLuca that she was abandoned at a young age, lived in her car, fled an abusive marriage," Izzie started listing off but was cut off.

"I also found some things when I looked through her file," Dr. Avery said. "I don't know what Richard was thinking when he let her enter the program," she shook her head.

Cristina was stunned. Alex hadn't mentioned any of that. Maybe he didn't know either.

"Dr. Stevens, why don't we go get some coffee from the cart? Dr. Yang, you're welcome to join us," Catherine spoke again.

"Um, no thank you. I have patients to check on," Cristina lied.

"Well, if you're sure," Catherine began walking in the opposite direction, Izzie following her like a lost puppy.

Cristina yanked out her cell phone from her coat and searched for Karev's contact.

She stood impatiently when no one answered after three rings already.

"What?' Karev barked in the phone. "I'm a bit busy." Cristina heard a moan and resisted the urge to gag.

Normally, she would make a wisecrack but this was not the time. "Hairball is in trouble."

Whatever Karev was doing he stopped. "'What do you mean she's in trouble?' he demanded.

"Izzie talked to Catherine Avery and said she was a liar and Dr. Avery found other stuff in her file. Alex, I think she's going to fire her," Cristina said seriously.

Silence.

"I'm getting fired?!" Cristina heard Jo cry out.

"No, no. You're not," Alex soothed. "Cristina, did they mention that Jo was getting fired?"

"Dr. Avery said she didn't know why Dr. Webber let her in the program. "

Jo started crying.

"T-t-they're going to f-f-f-fire me," Jo sobbed into Alex's shoulder. "I-I-I-I need this job."

"Shhh," Alex put the phone on the night stand and cradled her face. "You're not getting fired. I'll make sure of it."

Jo stared at him through teary eyes. "What are you going to do?"

Alex said nothing. He bit his lip helplessly and said into the phone, "Does she want to talk to her now?"

Cristina, whom had been halfway listening to Wilson mope, said, "No but she probably will tomorrow." After making sure no one was listening in, she whispered, "Is the phone on speaker?'

"Yeah. Why?'

"Turn it off."

"Why?'

"Turn it off now!" Cristina was losing her temper.

"Fine." A click was heard and she could hear no other noises except for Karev's impatient breathing.

"I think Izzie's trying to get revenge on Jo because she's marrying you," Cristina ran a hand through her tousled hair.

'But why?" Alex tried to sound discreet. If Jo found out what she was doing, she would be fired. Without a doubt Alex knew Jo wouldn't hesitate to beat Izzie up. Especially if she was trying to interfere with her job.

"Think about it, Evil Spawn. If she gets Hairball fired than she can get close to you so you'll cheat on-"

"But I won't cheat on Jo," Alex interjected firmly. "I would never."

Cristina face palmed. Wilson probably heard him.

Jo had been laying on Alex, enjoying the sound of his heartbeat when she heard him proclaim his loyalty. She sat up to face him with narrowed eyes. "What do you mean you won't cheat on me? What did Cristina say?"

Alex avoided her stare. "Jo, you should go to sleep. It's nothing."

This only made her more suspicious. "What. Did. Cristina. Say?"

Alex sighed with defeat. "She thinks Izzie's trying to get revenge on you because you're marrying me."

Jo's fierce facade dropped. She just rolled her eyes; which was a complete shock to Alex. "That isn't exactly a surprise, Alex."

"Oh," he grumbled.

"Are you still there? Or did you start having sex again?" Cristina's voice hit his ear full force. "Because if you are than put it back on speaker. I'll get some new audio."

"Shut up," he made a face even though she couldn't see it.

"You know," Cristina's voice turned into a teasing one. He could bet that she was smirking. "I've heard that sex makes you healthy. You and Hairball must be _really_ healthy..."

"Goodbye Cristina," he said into the phone forcefully.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Jo was a nervous wreck the next morning.

Alex had woken up to Jo with her arms around her legs; crying loudly. He calmed her down enough for her to get dressed and go downstairs. Jo was in no mood to eat but he'd coaxed into it anyway.

Just as they were about to leave, Jo, wringing her hands, said she wanted to stay home.

"You're going to have to come back sooner or later," he had pointed out.

"Ugh, fine!" she grabbed her bag with a little more force and headed straight for the car.

The car ride, for the most part was silent. Alex was keeping his eyes on the road and occasionally glancing at Jo who was staring out the window desolately.

"You're going to be fine, you know," Alex said; the first words he had spoken since they entered the car.

Peering away from the window, she leaned her head against the headrest and let out a depressed sigh. "You don't know that, Alex."

"Well, I'll say something-"

"What are you going to say, Alex?" Jo demanded. "What are you going to say to Catherine Avery that will change her mind if she decides to fire me? What, that she can't fire me unless she fires you too? Because I don't think she cares if we're together or not." Her voice was rising after each word.

Alex was quiet for a minute before asking, "Do you care?"

Jo rubbed her tired eyes. "Of course, I care,' she muttered.

Alex sighed heavily. "Look, I get it, you're scared. But you can't worry."

Jo grumbled, knowing he was right. Again.

He reached for her hand to hold while he drove. "I love you, Jo. We're getting married in four days." He squeezed her hand; eyes sparkling.

"Oh my gosh," Jo gasped. "We're getting married in four days."

"Crazy, isn't it?" Alex agreed. "I just have to ask Dr. Webber if we can use the big hall for the reception. Oh and pick up the rings."

"You better not look at yours," Jo warned him.

"I won't," he promised.

Alex pulled up to the hospital parking lot; parking in his usual spot.

Jo's stomach filled with butterflies but she was determined to face them. She could do this.

Alex squeezed her hand again. "Remember: don't worry. I'm sure it'll all be fine."

Jo smiled weakly and took a deep breath. Maybe he was right. Maybe work would be.

Oh how wrong she was.

Almost anybody who worked there, it seemed, was giving her dirty looks when she and Alex stepped out of the elevator. The nurses, the doctors, the interns, the secretaries.

The freaking secretaries.

"Why are they staring at me?" Jo asked Alex frantically.

Alex's stomach dropped. What did Izzie do?

"Ignore it," he instructed.

After many promises that she would page him if she needed anything and many kisses, Jo finally convinced Alex to go his own locker room and go to work. Thankfully, the resident's lounge was only occupied by Ben, Stephanie, Leah, and Shane.

Before she could even greet them, Stephanie rushed over.

"Did you hear? Everyone's talking about you!" she shook her head madly, eyes wide.

" _Everyone_?"

"Well, almost everyone."

"Why are they talking about me?" she asked in a small voice. She hated how pathetic it sounded.

Leah, from her place at her own locker, glared at her with a sense of hatred. "Don't act like you don't know."

"I..I don't."

Stephanie glared right back at Leah. "You're seriously believing it? They're just rumors, Leah."

"Rumors?" Jo's mouth went dry. "What rumors?"

"For all we know, they could be the truth," Leah said coldly.

Stephanie and Leah got into a particularly nasty bickerment. Shane was watching them almost cluelessly and Ben was watching Jo sympathetically.

"Girls," Ben interrupted.

"Shut up!" they screamed back at him before yelling at each other.

"You don't know if it's true or not!" Leah argued. "So, you can't just believe her."

"And you can't just not believe her," Stephanie retorted.

Jo, meanwhile, hadn't moved from her position in the doorway. She couldn't believe this. Rumors. That's why people staring at her. But rumors about what?

"What are the rumors about?" Jo said in a barely audible voice.

Leah threw her hands up in the air and laughed humorlessly. "Here we go with the poor me voice!"

What is wrong with you?" Stephanie growled. "I thought after Brooks died," Shane flinched. "We were going to stick together! I thought we were going to bond!"

"Not with a liar," Leah declared, stubbornly crossing her arms.

Jo's heart sank. Did Izzie tell everyone else what she told Catherine Avery?

Ben, seeing Jo's crestfallen face, stated, "Cross told everyone that Dr. Stevens said you lied about some things."

'Cross?' Was that why he was angry the night before?

Obviously not done with her rampage, Leah said fiercely, "You lied about everything. You lied about living in your car, about being abandoned. You said you fled an abusive marriage and you couldn't divorce him since you just ran away." She was looking at her so degradingly. "People actually go through that stuff, you know. They suffer. It's not something you can lie about for sympathy."

Tears began forming in Jo's eyes. She didn't want to cry. Not in front of everyone. But even she couldn't help it when they fell down her cheeks.

Stephanie yelled something at Leah that Jo couldn't hear over her sniffling. Ben, having watched enough, came over and took her in his arms.

Jo broke down. She cried harder than she ever had.

"It's going to be okay," Ben assured her. "Karev believes you. It's obvious he will."

"Not after he hears how much you've lied," Leah sneered. "I doubt you'll be getting married still." She smirked and laughed not so quietly.

"You know what..." Stephanie came forward.

"What's going on?"

There was Cristina; tired looking and mad as ever.

Leah put on a fake smile. "Dr. Yang, I just explained the rumors to Jo and Edwards, here, was about to punch me if you hadn't come in."

"That is such a lie-" Stephanie started.

"The liar is over there," Leah pointed to Jo.

"That's it," Cristina snipped. "I've had enough." No one spoke. Ben still held Jo in his arms, still trying to comfort her. "Wilson, you're on my service today." Jo nodded, her face still in Ben's chest.

Leah found this unfair. "I'm on your service today."

Cristina didn't care. "Not anymore. Wilson, get dressed and meet me by the nurse's station."

"Yes, Dr. Yang," Jo sniffed, heading over to her locker and avoiding Leah's piercing eyes.

Cristina shook her head in disgust before leaving the residents on their own.

Jo hurriedly dressed in her scrubs without saying a word to anyone. She gave a half smile toward Stephanie who returned it. As she was leaving, Jo muttered a thank you to Ben.

"You're welcome!" he called, smiling.

Jo spotted Cristina right where she said she'd be. Cristina didn't look pleased.

"Dr. Avery wants to see you in the conference room."

"Catherine Avery?" Jo asked even though she already knew.

"Yes," Cristina was reviewing charts. "After that, page me and you can get to work."

"Okay," Jo said softly.

She made her way down the hall; stomach tight. She didn't bother to tell Yang that she might not be working after the meeting. What would she do if she couldn't be a doctor? No doubt Dr. Avery would make sure she never gets a chance at another program again. It pains Jo to think about it. Surgery was all she's ever wanted and that doub blonde; that stupid, stupid blonde, was going to ruin it.

She got to the door but didn't have the heart open it. Her throat tightened and she somehow gets the courage to open it.

Dr. Webber is there, and Dr. Avery and Alex. They're wearing unreadable expressions.

"Sit down, Dr. Wilson," Catherine Avery gestures to the seat next to Alex. Jo sat down and held Alex's hand underneath the table.

"We will begin shortly. We're just waiting for one more person."

"One more?" Jo naturally assumed she was the only one besides Dr. Avery herself.

"Yes, Dr. DeLuca," Catherine answered.

This only confused Jo more. What did DeLuca have to do with this?

"I'm here!" Deluca burst opened the door. He was out of breath and panting. "Sorry I'm late. I just got done with pre-rounds."

"It's quite alright, Dr. DeLuca. Please take a seat."

DeLuca sat down next Jo; looking as confused as Jo was.

'What's the meaning of this?"

"The meaning," Catherine pursed her lips, "is that Dr. Wilson doesn't belong in this residency program."

DeLuca and Webber were stunned. Jo began tearing up again and Alex wiped her tears away, muttering comforting words.

'Wait a minute!" Dr. Webber interjected. "Wilson is one of the finest resident's this hospital has. What reason do we have to fire her?"

Catherine sat up straighter. This obviously wasn't going to be easy. "Dr. Stevens informed me-"

"Whatever she said is a lie!" Alex interrupted angrily.

"How ironic you use that word," Dr. Avery smirked. "Because I was informed last night that Dr. Wilson has lied on several occasions."

"Like what?" Andrew DeLuca asked.

Catherine opened a file she had on the table and flipped to the second page. "Dr. Wilson, do you have parents?"

"What?" Jo was caught off guard.

"Do you have parents?"

"What does this have to do with anything?' Alex demanded. He didn't like how Dr. Avery was glaring at Jo.

Dr. Avery ignored him. 'Dr. Wilson, did you or did you not tell Dr. DeLuca that your mother abandoned you at fire station when you were two weeks old?"

"I did."

"She did!"

Jo and DeLuca said in unison.

Dr. Avery turned to Andrew. "What other information did Dr. Wilson reveal to you?"

"Uuuh," DeLuca glanced at Jo as if asking for permission. She smiled to let him know it was okay. "She said that she was in a lot of foster homes and she lived in her car at sixteen. She went to Harvard Medical School and her old teacher, Mrs. Schmidt was the only one to go to her graduation. She was in an abusive marriage and she ran away from him so they never got divorced."

Dr. Avery was displeased. Everything that Izzie Stevens had told her was a lie.

"Why are we even here?" Alex fumed. "You can't fire her for that or write her up."

"No, but I can fire her for putting false information on her forms to enter this program," Dr. Avery stated.

Jo's mouth felt dry again. "I changed my name to Jo Wilson. It's legal," she added desperately.

"But it wasn't at the time," Dr. Avery reminded her.

Alex felt helpless. Jo couldn't get fired. He had to do something.

"What if she does scut work for six months," Alex suggested.

"Alex!" Jo gasped. Her boards were in a week and a half. She had to do surgeries to study!

"No, no," Dr. Webber spoke, "that won't be needed."

"Why?" Jo asked fearfully.

"Because," Dr. Webber glanced over at Catherine.

"Because you're not in trouble," Catherine somewhat grumbled. "Get out, all of you."

Jo stood up fast. She thanked them profusely.

"Yes, yes," Catherine waved her hand dismissively. "Go before I change my mind."

Once they were out in the hallway, Alex and Jo hugged and sighed in relief. Andrew stood off to the side awkwardly.

"Thank you, DeLuca," Jo hugged him too.

"No problem," DeLuca smiled. "I'll see you two later. I've got rounds." He started hurrying down the hallway. 'Don't get into anymore trouble, Wilson!" he called back.

 **Okay so I know I didn't make Alex talk a lot during the meeting but let's just pretend that Webber and Catherine warned him to keep quiet before Jo came in.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Izzie Stevens practically skipped to the conference room. Everything would be great now. Dr. Avery would inform her that Wilson had gotten fired and now Izzie could flirt with Alex as she pleased.

"Hello Dr. Avery!" she said cheerfully.

"Sit down," Dr. Avery commanded coldly.

This made Izzie frown. _She's probably just angry from her the meeting_ , she reasoned. Yes, that was it.

Unfortunately, Izzie made a choice to be arrogant at the wrong moment. "Do I get my reward now? I gave you the information, after all." Catherine had promised Izzie that she could be on all OB cases that Alex was on.

"Reward you?" Catherine sounded incredulous. "You think I'm going to reward you?"

Izzie began sweating. What was she talking about? She promised!

"You promised me you'd give me the cases with Alex! You promised!"

Okay, so she was starting to get whiny; but this was serious!

Catherine stood up and paced her side of the room.

"Dr. Stevens, in my meeting with Drs. Wilson, Karev and DeLuca-"

"Alex was there?" Okay, now she was _really_ sweating. Alex would be sure to defend her.

She shrunk under Catherine's piercing glare for her interruption.

"As I was saying: in the meeting, I discovered something I wasn't expecting."

"What was it?" Izzie instantly relaxed. This wasn't about her! This was about Wilson. She obviously found more info on her!

"That you are the liar," Catherine Avery finished.

Uh oh.

Izzie's heart was beating so fast she was sure Dr. Avery could hear it. She wasn't supposed to get caught!

"Oh?" Izzie asked weakly.

"You have five minutes."

"I'm sorry?"

"You have five minutes to explain or I will have no choice but to fire you," Catherine sat down again, hands folded. When Izzie made no move to respond, she said sternly, "I'm waiting, Dr. Stevens. Or shall I go with Ms. Stevens?"

She gulped. "Dr. Avery... I didn't have a choice!"

"Lying is always a choice."

Izzie chewed her fingernail nervously. This was _not_ going how she expected.

" you have a rather interesting history," Catherine tapped her fingers on the table.

"Pardon?"

Dr. Avery leaned back in her chair. "Cutting LVad wires, getting too close to patients, almost killing one from negligence." Izzie openly flinched.

"That-that's all behind me now," Izzie spoke up. "I went back to school and now I'm a successful OB. I don't do that anymore."

"It still doesn't explain your hatred toward Dr. Wilson," Catherine insisted. "We are doctors; surgeons! We don't have time to stop these playground fights. We could be saving lives!"

If it had been someone else under much different circumstances, Izzie would've walked out. She didn't deserve to be treated this way. But she was treading on thin ice; she needed to sit through it.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Dr. Avery," Izzie said unapologetically. "It won't happen again."

"I know it won't," Catherine said and Izzie froze. Did she mean...?

"You are not to approach Dr. Wilson and will not be allowed on the same cases as Dr. Karev."

"But what about-" Izzie began.

"Including the Stromer case," Catherine said with finality. "Good day, Dr. Stevens. And be thankful you have a job. If we have another incident I will have no choice but to fire you."

Izzie didn't move or speak. No cases with Alex... This was too much. Work was the one place she could watch him and marvel at how sexy he was. No way would he answer her texts or calls. Wilson probably kept tabs with everyone he talked to. She inwardly gasped. Wilson probably forbid him from talking to other girls except who she approved! Izzie could understand Cristina and Meredith; they weren't interested in him anyway. But that Arizona woman was a different story. She bet they probably had an attraction to each other. How could Alex not like her? It would be hilarious if Alex ended up cheating on Wilson with Arizona.

"Dr. Stevens!" Catherine's agitated voice pulled her back to reality.

"What did you say?" Izzie asked sheepishly. "I'm sorry I wasn't listening."

Dr. Avery sighed impatiently. "Just go, Dr. Stevens."

"Yes., ma'am," Izzie clumsily left the room; leaving a very annoyed Dr. Avery alone to her thoughts.

I know you all were probably hoping for Catherine to fire Izzie buuuut I still needed her for something else!


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Needless to say, Jo Wilson's day did not get better as the day went on.

After the meeting, she sent Cristina a page who told her to get down to OR 3. She would be assisting on an open heart surgery on a five year old.

Along the way, Jo tried to ignore the hateful glares and scoffs. They looked at her as if she murdered a child.

"Are you going to Dr. Yang?" One nurse asked with a rude tone. Jo almost walked right by if it hadn't been for another nurse who gestured to the first one.

Yes, I am," she replied, wincing slightly when she heard whispers. Probably about her.

"Give this to her," the nurse carelessly threw a couple OR tools that Jo almost didn't catch. The nurse rolled her eyes at her clumsiness.

Jo soon made her way down to the OR, luckily without getting stopped again. She was scrubbing her hands when the unmistakable figure of Leah Murphy slips in through the door.

"Not you," Jo groaned. "I thought Yang didn't want you?"

Leah began scrubbing her hands as well and replied snottily, "Dr. Bailey told me to come help."

Jo didn't know what was worse: an overly jealous ex wife or a coworker who hated her all because of a stupid rumor.

"Look, I know you don't like me right now but let's just-" Jo started to say before Leah put her mask on and swept right past her. "Hey!"

"What are you doing in here, perky?" Cristina didn't look up from the open body. "I asked for Hairball."

"I'm here," Jo came to stand beside Leah, who was displeased. "Where do you need me?"

"Dr. Yang," Leah tried again, "Dr. Bailey sent me."

"What's your point?"

"I-I-I," Leah didn't expect that response. "I need to work."

"Listen, perky. I asked for Hairball, not you. You can observe. Also," Cristina cursed when the patient started bleeding profusely. 'Don't think I'm afraid of you because you filed that harassment complaint at Callie. If you want to file another go ahead, I'm not scared."

Jo was thankful for the surgical mask covering her grin.

Leah decided to target Jo this time.

"I heard you had to talk with Catherine Avery. Surprised you're not fired."

"Quiet, perky," Cristina admonished. She turned her attention to Jo while still working vigorously on the patient. "How did that go? Clamp his veins."

"It went good," she didn't want to reveal too much while Leah was in the room.

"Do you have any punishments that I should be aware of?" Cristina inquired.

Murphy was actively listening in.

"No. I didn't get in trouble," Jo explained.

"Good."

"Of course you didn't," Leah muttered.

"What's that suppose to mean?' Jo shot back.

Leah smirked behind her mask. She would be delighted to enlighten her.

"You sleep with an attending. Of course you won't be in trouble. It's one of the perks of exchanging favors-"

"Murphy! Out now!" Cristina barked.

A few tears came to Jo's eyes. Is that what everyone thought? That she didn't love Alex? That she only slept with him for the perks?

Cristina observed her. "If you need to find Evil Spawn than do it."

Jo wiped her tears away. This would _not_ affect her job. "No, that's alright. I'm good."

"You're sure?"

"Yes," she sniffed. She composed herself and took several deep breaths.

After the surgery, Cristina stopped her in the hallway. "Do you want me to talk to Dr. Bailey about Murphy?"

Jo tried to contain her shock. Cristina Yang only cared about two things: alcohol and cardio. And yet, here she was, actually showing affection for her. Maybe she did care.

"If you would, please. Thank you," Jo graciously said.

"Hey!" The women turned to see Alex jogging toward them.

"I heard about Murphy,' he told her seriously.

"How?"

"She was complaining about you to the nurse's," he rocked on his heels.

Of course she was.

"As if they didn't hate me enough," she banged her head lightly on the wall.

"So how did you not get fired?" Always the blunt friend, Cristina asked.

"I don't know," Jo admitted. "She almost fired me for writing down Jo Wilson to get in the program."

Cristina whistled. "Looks like we can add illegal to your girlfriend type list."

'Shut up, Yang!"

"Will you two stop arguing!" Jo snapped.

The surgeon's quieted down. Cristina snorted, "Someone's got a temper."

Jo leaned into Alex's body; his strong arms holding her close.

"How do I get everyone to stop hating me?' she asked, almost tearfully.

Cristina and Alex were at a loss. Cristina could've cared less if someone hated her. Heck, she would've made a toast about it. And Alex, well, it was obvious he didn't care either.

Usually, Jo wouldn't have cared but lately between wedding plans and Izzie, she was acting a bit more sensitive than normal.

Alex placed his hands on her shoulders and looked in her in the eyes. "Just ignore it. Just remember we're getting married in four days. Four days until hot wedding sex." He was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Cristina pretended to gag.

The thought made Jo smile.

'Is there a time you and Hairball aren't talking about getting laid," Cristina pinched the bridge of her nose, annoyed.

Alex smirked. "What's wrong? Jealous that we're getting laid more than you?"

Cristina smiled sweetly. "No because I get laid with real men."

Alex grunted and Jo couldn't stop the laughter that escaped from her throat. She laughed until tears came to her eyes.

Jo felt quite content when Alex started, surprise, surprise, arguing with Cristina over their sex life. She never thought she'd get along so well with any of the attendings; let alone with Cristina Yang.

The butterflies came back to Jo's stomach as she thought about the wedding once again. Her future had begun brightening up a bit after she left Paul. But now that she was marrying the love of her life and the possibility of children was on the table; her future was shining brightly like a star.

Ah, children. After many talks between Alex and herself (and occasionally from Stephanie when Jo got freaked out), they finally agreed that children were a possibility. Alex had expressed an interest before in having kids and Jo didn't doubt his ability as a father. As a peds surgeon, he obviously charmed over the patient's. It was her own family history that made her weary. What if she wasn't a good mother? Besides Mrs. Schmidt, she didn't really have any good mother figures growing up. What if she messed up? Alex had complete faith in her, of course. And Stephanie had given Jo some advice when it came to children she'd learned from babysitting.

" _It's simple: fed them, change them, play with them, bathe them; and don't wear new clothes when you burp them."_

Despite this, Jo still felt under qualified. Maybe if-

"Bailey's paging us to her office," Cristina's annoyed voice reached her ears. "C'mon, Hairball."

"I'm coming," Alex announced, tagging along.

JolexJolexJolex

Miranda Bailey was a no-nonsense woman; especially when it came to work. You were to come to work drama free than go home and deal with it. Personal lives should never enter the workplace. That's what she always told herself. That, and to never be biased no matter who it was.

Naturally, when she found out about the meeting earlier that morning she was quite angry that no one had bothered to talk to her about or ask her to sit in. That was bad enough-now Leah Murphy came running back to her office after she had told the girl to scrub in with Yang. Murphy explained what had happened and now she was forced to bring everyone in so she could sort this out.

"You paged us?" Bailey, still looking over paperwork, waved for them to come in. She glanced up and said immediately, "Karev, leave."

"No!" he exclaimed. "I'm staying."

"Alex," Jo said softly.

"Karev," Bailey said in a forced tone, "This doesn't concern you. Leave."

"But-"

"Do you want to go back to the clinic?' she raised her voice. He was silent. "I thought so."

"Let me know when you're done," Alex kissed Jo and closed the door.  
Only Cristina, Jo and Leah remained.

Bailey folded her hands. "Now do you all know why you're here?"

"Because Murphy didn't get her own way?" Cristina wisecracked.

Jo had a hard time concealing her giggle.

"Shut up!" Leah snapped. She turned to Bailey, "Dr. Yang wouldn't let me scrub in. I told her you wanted me to!"

"What are you, five?" Cristina scoffed. "I requested Hairball. She's on my service today." She really couldn't believe she was missing out on surgeries because of Murphy.

" _I_ was supposed to be on your service," Leah protested.

"Is this true, Dr. Yang?" Bailey inquired.

Cristina ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, but than I switched for Hairball because Murphy here almost got into a fight with Edwards this morning."

"She started it!" Leah squealed.

Bailey rubbed her temples. All she wanted was a peaceful day; was that too much to ask for?

"Alright," she took a deep breath. "Murphy, what happened this morning?"

"Well," Leah began, "Cross told everyone that she," she pointed at Jo, "is a liar. She lied about her childhood and about being in an abusive marriage. And Stephanie didn't believe it so we argued. It almost got physical because she almost hit me!"

"That is such a lie," Jo interjected. 'Steph wouldn't do that. "

"Yeah. Can't see Edwards having the guts to do it," Cristina agreed.

"And than!" Leah continued, "I had to observe the surgery that Dr. Yang and Jo were doing and the meeting from this morning was brought. I was surprised she didn't get fired and Dr. Yang got angry with me. She kicked me out of the OR after I told Jo why she didn't get fired."

"What did you say?" Bailey asked wearily.

"That she's only here because she's sleeping with an attending."

Jo felt all the anger come back. "That is NOT true!"

"Oh yes, it is!" Leah yelled back.

"You made me come in for this?" Cristina asked Bailey, gesturing to the two girls fighting.

"Quiet," Bailey said in an even tone. Nobody listened. "QUIET!" The two girls took a step back in shock and glanced at Bailey nervously. Now they were getting somewhere.

"Yang, you can go."

Wasting no time, Cristina sprinted out the door. This left Leah, Jo and a very angry Bailey to themselves.

"I have had enough of this," Bailey said firmly. "Obviously you two can't handle yourselves when you're together; so I'll have to separate you both. For the next week Murphy will be on Dr. Steven's service and Wilson, you can switch between Yang, Robbins or Karev."

'What?" Leah exclaimed. "That's not fair! Why does she get to choose?"

Dr. Bailey put her head in her hands. "She didn't come crying back to me because she didn't get her way."

'She's still a liar,' Leah mumbled.

Knowing she was fighting a losing battle, Dr. Bailey motioned toward the door. "Murphy, go. Wilson, stay."

Leah casted a smirk in Jo's direction before leaving. This made Jo very nervous. 'Dr. Bailey...I..."

"Shut up," Bailey held up her finger. "Now I'm going to ask you about your wedding plans and you're going to look upset and frown so Dr. Murphy thinks you're getting a talking to."

Jo just nodded, biting her cheek so she wouldn't smile.

"Have you found a place for the reception yet?" Bailey asked with a stone face.

Jo hung her head low. "Yes. We were wondering if we could use that big hall that the prom was held in?"

"I don't see a problem with that."

"Thank you," Jo smiled

"Stop smiling!" Bailey barked and immediately the smile was gone.

"Yes, ma'am."

'What about the rings?"

Jo shifted her feet. "Alex is getting them after work. I hope he didn't go overboard," she sighed.

"You mean like the other night?" Bailey asked for confirmation.

"Yeah," Jo rolled her eyes. "I told Alex I want a simple ring but he was staring at my boobs so I'm pretty sure he was in neverland."

"Oh! I'm Sorry!" Jo couldn't believe she'd just mention her boobs to her boss. Her face turned a light shade of pink.

"Just leave, Wilson," Dr. Bailey watched the young resident scramble out of her office, mumbling apologies.

 _I need a lock._


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

 **Can you believe it's already at 20 chapters!? And thank you for all the kind reviews! I really appreciate every one of them.**

By the end of her shift, Jo was beginning to feel better about everything. After she left Bailey's office the day finally started to brighten up.

As she made her way to the resident's lounge, however, her mood was once again ruined. She heard the whispers.

"I heard Dr. Steven's has feelings for Dr. Karev."

'Why wouldn't she? He's gorgeous!"

"I heard he's leaving Wilson for Stevens."

"Well I heard he's cheating on her."

"I heard that Wilson got fired."

Jo kept a poker face as she passed the nurse's station. The nurse's stared at her like she was a nasty disease.

"Have a good night," she said friendly. No one acknowledged her presence. Instead, they chatted amongst themselves and pretended to read charts.

 _Well never mind_.

The lounge was no better.

Stephanie and Leah were already there and usually the three of them would talk about the grossest case they had that day but now they dressed in silence.

"Hey, Steph,' Jo said cautiously when she came in.

"Hey," Stephanie smiled warmly. "I heard about the meeting and about being in Bailey's office."

 _Please don't bring that up now.._

""Some people are such brats, I swear," Steph said loudly, laughing.

Leah threw her scrub top into the cubby roughly.

"Steph," Jo said in a pleading voice.

But Stephanie wasn't listening. She was glaring at Leah; daring her to make a move.

"So," Leah began in a snotty voice, "are you still getting married?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" Alex's voice was gruff.

Leah whirled around and her face turned a bright shade of red. Jo suspected Leah still had feelings for Alex; despite that things were not mutual.

"I-um, uh," Leah stammered. Stephanie snickered.

"Well?" he rolled his eyes.

"I...I just thought-"

"What?' Alex said roughly. "That I'd leave her because of some stupid rumors?"

"You have no problem leaving people before," Leah spat bitterly.

"Oh no she didn't," Stephanie muttered to Jo. Jo mentally groaned. Not this again.

Alex raised his eyebrows. Murphy usually never challenged him-or anyone for that matter.

"You slept with me once and didn't talk to me again!" Leah hissed. "You slept with all of us-"

"Not me," Stephanie said abruptly.

Leah sighed exasperatedly. " _Almost_ all of us and you suddenly think you're in love with her." Directing to Jo, she said, "It's only a matter of time before he cheats on you."

'He would never do that," Jo said, seethed.

Alex, who was taking several deep breaths to calm himself, came over and put a protective arm around Jo. "Us sleeping together meant nothing."

Leah snorted. "Obviously."

"Look, I love Jo. She's the love of my life and I don't care if she killed someone. I'm not losing her again." Alex almost didn't believe he'd said it out loud. He had always wanted to say it to Jo but didn't want to freak her out.

Jo looked anything but freaked out. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was an O shape. "You mean that?"

"I do," he said confidently.

Stephanie awed at the couple. Karev was a good man for her; even if he did sleep around before they got together.

Leah watched them with hard eyes. It wasn't fair. Jo found a man without even trying. She found the perfect man. Yep, she had everything. Jo got to scrub in on surgeries and Leah had to watch. Jo sleeps around and gets a fiancee. While Leah sleeps around and ends up with a broken heart. It was a sick joke.

"You ready?' Karev asked Jo.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Let's go."

'Wait!" Stephanie hurriedly dressed herself in her street clothes. "Jo let's go get drinks!"

Jo glanced at Alex. "Alex and I were going to watch movies tonight, Steph."

"We haven't got drinks in weeks," Stephanie reminded her.

Jo looked at Alex apologetically. "Would you mind?"

He smiled reassuringly. "It's fine. Go have fun."

Jo gave him a hug and kiss. "I'll see you later."

"Don't drink and drive!" he instructed the girls as they left the locker room.

Alex never realized how lonely he could feel without Jo. They would talk about their cases for the day during the car ride home; if they weren't mad at each other.

The car was completely silent. He didn't even turn the radio on. It didn't feel right to listen to the music station they listened to while he was alone.

Alex pulled up the apartment. The curtains to the living room were closed but he could see a light was one. He frowned. The four of them had left in the early morning so no one had left a light on.

 _Maybe Yang's home._

His frown deepened as he thought it over. No, Yang hated leaving the OR; especially before 11 at night. He trotted up the stairs and pulled his key out. When he put the key in, the door opened a bit.

Now he was concerned.

Did someone break in? The door didn't look like someone had broken in. No window was damaged.

He stepped inside cautiously. He could hear noise in the living room. When he realized who was inside, his jaw dropped.

"Izzie?"

 **I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. I've been having a bit of writer's block.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Ch 21**

"Izzie?"

Alex didn't know if he was more astounded or angry at the fact that Izzie had the audacity to show up at his house.

But there she was: standing in the middle of his living room wearing skimpy clothes.

"Hey, Alex," she said seductively, or what she thought was seductive.

'How did you get in here?' he asked sharply.

Izzie took a few steps forward to which Alex took a few steps back. "I had a key," she explained.

Alex mentally cursed. Of course, she did.

"Where's Wilson?" she asked not so innocently.

Alex's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business."

Izzie smiled coyly. "Did she leave you?"

"No," Alex growled.

Either Izzie ignored his harsh tone or she was truly unaware of how unwanted she was now that she was back in Seattle. She sat on the couch with her legs crossed. She pulled the part of her shirt covering her cleavage down a bit to expose more of her already exposed breast.

"I didn't know Cristina lived here again," Izzie commented casually.

Alex narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Did she tell you she was?"

"No," Izzie declined. "I sort of had a look around."

It took everything for Alex not to explode. "You snooped around in _my_ house," he hissed dangerously.

Izzie had the decency to blush. "It was accidental..."

Alex rubbed his face. "How do you 'accidentally' snoop, Izzie?"

Izzie avoided making any eye contact. "Well...I got myself a drink and the kitchen looked different so I just started walking around."

Alex didn't trust himself to speak. He would only glance at Izzie than sigh heavily.

"Why are you here?"

'What?" Izzie hadn't been listening. She had been daydreaming about kissing Alex.

"Why are you here?" he repeated sharply.

"I just wanted to stop by-"

"No," he cut her off. "Why are you in Seattle?"

Izzie looked like a deer caught in a headlight; panicked and confused.

"I needed a job, Alex."

But he wasn't buying it. "There are plenty of other hospitals to work at."

"They aren't hiring," she said weakly.

"Really?" he said in a mocking tone. "I know why you came back."

Izzie's blood ran cold. "You do?"

"You wanted me back," he snarled, "you think you love me again and I'm supposed to take you back."

This was it; this was her chance.

"Alex," she took another step forward, "I know deep down you love me. You don't love Jo."

"I stopped loving you years ago," he denied firmly.

A small smirk appeared on her face. "But did you really? Because I think you're infatuated with Jo. You don't love her."

"What?" he said outraged, "That's stupid. I've never loved any woman the way I love her."  
"Not even me?' Izzie couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Not even you," he confirmed easily.

Izzie couldn't believe how easily he said that. He said it as if their relationship meant nothing. What was wrong with him?

 _It's Wilson's fault_ , she reminded herself. _Wilson made him feel this way_.

When her mind snapped back to reality, she noticed Alex was very, very cross.

"Were you even listening?" he asked angrily.

"Sorry," she said quickly. "What were you saying?"

He took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down. "Why did you tell Catherine Avery that Jo lied about her upbringing?" he watched her intently so she couldn't lie her way out of this one.

Crap. She was caught.

"Well," she fidgeted a bit. "You can't actually believe all that," she laughed nervously.

"You never once questioned about my past. You believed that," he countered.

"That's-that's different," she stuttered with frustration.

"How?"

"That explained your crappy behavior. I pitied you. That's why I wanted to date you," Izzie blurted out without any thought.

Alex wasn't sure what to think or say. Izzie dated him because she pitied him?...

"Get out," he said in a low dangerous tone. When Izzie didn't move, he boomed, "GET OUT!"

Izzie jumped. "Alex, I'm sorry," she tried to touch him but he jerked away. "I don't pity you anymore. I love you. I really do," she tried again.

Alex began pacing. "I don't want you anywhere near the wedding," he was shaking his head again and again.

She inwardly gasped. The wedding! She'd been so focused on getting Wilson fired that she'd completely forgotten about it.

The sound of a car door slamming reached her ears. It must be Wilson, she assumed.

Someone, presumably Wilson, was coming up the steps. The door was beginning to open and Izzie did the only thing she could think of.

She pulled her shirt off.

 **I'm sorry it's taken me longer than usual to update. My second semester of college started so my updates will be a little infrequent but my story will get finished!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Ch 22**

Jo Wilson has had plenty of heartbreak in her life.

The first being that her mother abandoned her, her disastrous marriage to Paul, breaking up with Alex, the DeLuca drama. But nothing could describe the betrayal and heartbreak she felt when she walked into the house after a much needed girl's night with Stephanie, only to find her fiancée's ex wife standing there. Topless.

Alex was yelling at Izzie. He looked more furious than Jo had ever seen him.

Jo tried not to react the way she normally would. The logical part of her brain told her that Alex doesn't even like Izzie so why would he want to see her topless? But the other part of her wondered why Izzie was even there. This was too much to deal with. First Leah now this.

"Jo."

That was Alex. He sounded desperate and it almost made her heart break.

She forced herself to look at him. He didn't look like a guy who was having a little fun with his ex and got caught. He looked nervous and a bit worried. Jo cursed herself for assuming the worst. She should've known; Alex wouldn't ever cheat on her. He loved her too much.

Despite reassuring herself, she couldn't help but feel angry and a little defeated. Izzie would always be a barrier in the way. It didn't matter that Jo and Alex had finally gotten together again. It didn't matter that Alex proclaimed his love to Jo many times. It didn't matter that their wedding was in a few days. It. Didn't. Matter. Izzie would always view Alex as hers.

"Jo, it's not what it looks like, really." Alex's voice was a bit shaky. "You gotta believe me."

Izzie was still there, staring at Jo dumbly. Surprisingly, she wasn't saying a word. But if Izzie had to be honest, she was a bit scared from the blank look on Jo's face. Izzie wasn't stupid. Jo looked like she's beaten up people before and wouldn't be afraid to do it to her now.

"I believe you," Jo said in a small voice.

Alex was relieved but still a bit unsure. "I didn't invite her. She had a key from when we were married," he said uncomfortably.

Jo nodded. Her facial expression hadn't changed. "Why is she topless?"

"I don't know. She just took it off when she heard you coming in," Alex said, glancing at Izzie annoyed.

Jo nodded again. She turned to Izzie and said almost bitterly, "You don't need to compete for Alex. He's yours. You've won." She refused to look at Alex as she pushed past him and went up the stairs to 'their' room. She almost didn't hear him calling her name.

"Do you realize what you've done?!" he yelled at Izzie, not caring that she most likely saw the tears forming in his eyes. "Get out!"

For once, Izzie did as she was told. She quickly put her shirt on and opened the door to leave; startling Stephanie who was coming inside.

"Jo, you would not believe that hottie jogger-where's Jo?" she asked Alex when she realized she was talking to herself. "What's wrong with you?" She was starting to get concerned. Alex was looking upset and lost. Hmm. And Dr. Stevens left in a hurry. Stephanie's eyes widened. The crazy ex wife struck again!

"What did she do?" Stephanie asked Alex.

"I found her here and when Jo came home she took off her shirt," he paused when Stephanie let out a gasp. "And Jo said Izzie didn't have to compete for me. She said Izzie won." He felt numb. Completely numb.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," Stephanie said unconvincingly. "She was mad. We say what what don't mean when we're mad."

"I think she meant it," he said glumly.

"Go talk to her," Stephanie suggested. "You won't know until you talk to her."

The last thing Alex wanted to do was talk to Jo. It wasn't because he was mad at her. But he knew if he tried talking to her he'd want to hold her, sooth her, kiss her.

"Why can't you do it?"

"I'm not her fiancée," Stephanie pointed out. "It'll mean more coming from you."

Sighing with annoyance, Alex went up the stairs. He hoped Jo was in their room.

He passed Cristina's room and she wasn't in there. He wondered if she was up in the attic. Since Stephanie now lived with them it was harder to be away from Alex when she got angry with him.

Alex was happy to note that Jo was indeed in their room. His happiness didn't last long.

The drawers of the dresser they shared were open and so was the closet.

'What are you doing?" He asked, confused.

Jo briefly stopped what she was doing and looked at him with pain in her eyes. "I'm taking my stuff out of here."

Alex's stomach dropped. "Why?"

"You know why," she said in a monotone.

Alex was beginning to get frustrated. "I didn't do anything with Izzie!"

Jo resumed what she was doing. "I know, Alex."

"Then why are you doing this?"

'Alex, don't you get it?" He could clearly see tears in her eyes now. "Ever since Izzie came back, she's made my life a living nightmare."

"It's not that bad," he tried to comfort her.

"She got everyone to hate me," the tears were now falling down her face. "I can't go by the nurse's station without someone talking about me!"

Alex felt the guilt eating away at him. He knew he was partly responsible. He should've done something.

"They'll forget about it after the wedding."

Jo didn't reply. She avoided his eyes and shoved a few more items into her backpack.

"Jo?" he choked out.

Jo mumbled something incoherent.

"What?"

"I can't marry you," Jo said a little louder.

Silence.

It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Alex, stunned, just blinked. Jo was silently crying.

'What do you mean you can't marry me?" Alex asked when he found his voice again.

"Alex-"

"You said yes!" he boomed. "You said you finally realized you love me and you wanted to marry me! Are you scared or what?"

"I'm not scared," she muttered.

"Than what is it?!" He snapped.

Jo zipped her backpack shut once she finished packing. "Izzie has no boundaries. I have done nothing to her and she's tried to get me fired! She obviously still loves you so marry her." She pushed past Alex to get to the bathroom while he followed her.

'Where is this coming from?" he fumed. "Just yesterday you wanted to marry me!"

Jo grabbed all her essentials and each time she did, a piece of her heart broke. A month ago, she'd moved back in with Alex and had carefully arranged her things one last time. This was it. She was staying. And yet here she was, moving out. Again.

"Where are you even going?" Alex asked her harshly. "Edwards lives here now."

Jo cursed herself. She hadn't thought of that. Now that Steph was living with them she had nowhere to hide out.

"I've got somewhere," she lied. She flat out lied. She had nowhere.

Alex made a mhm sound. He was really testing her patience.

"Look, Alex," she said through gritted teeth, "I really can't deal with this right now."

"You mean you can't deal with us right now," he crossed his arms.

This shut Jo up. Not knowing what else to do, she glared at him. How did he always know what to say in an argument?

"You're not going anywhere, Jo."

"Oh, yeah? Watch me," and with that, Jo grabbed her backpack and slid past Alex.

"Get back here!" he barked, following her down the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Alex," she bit her lip and left, shutting the door softly.

Cristina, who had just gotten home, was sitting on the couch with Stephanie. 'What was that about?" she asked with slight interest. Stephanie was watching Alex in shock and concern.

Alex was standing in the doorway with a far away look in his eyes.

"Jo left me,"


	23. Chapter 23

**Ch 23**

Planning ahead had never been Jo Wilson's strong point.

Especially when she had chosen the rainiest night in Seattle to run away from her fiancé.

Using the little money she had on her person, Jo took a bus for a few blocks; mostly to dry off from the never ending rain. During the bus ride, Jo thought about where she could go for a good night's sleep. Stephanie was at the frat house, she didn't have enough money for a hotel. Hmm.

 _What about Meredith's_?

Meredith! Why hadn't she thought of that sooner? Now that they were friends she would surely take her in. And it wouldn't be awkward.

She began walking in the direction of Meredith's house. Her house was in the middle of nowhere so she had some walking to do. Luckily for her, the rain was beginning to slow down.

Jo felt a twinge of guilt. Why was she doing this? She knew Alex didn't do anything with izzie and she wasn't even mad at him for that. She knew he didn't have anything to do with her almost getting fired or for the whole Leah drama or for everyone at the hospital hating her. So why did she run away from him?

Jo let out a sigh of relief when Meredith's house came into view. She was soaking wet and exhausted and cold. Her stomach growled hungrily. She hadn't eaten since lunch.

It was late. Really late. It was dark and Jo hoped Meredith wasn't in bed. She knocked on the door rapidly and loudly.

Six knocks later, a very cranky Meredith opened the door.

"Wilson? Why are you here and why are you wet?" Meredith was already in her pajamas. "And be quiet! My kids are asleep."

Jo glanced at her apologetically. "Sorry. Can I stay here for the night?"

"Why?" Meredith narrowed her eyes. "What's wrong with your house?"

Jo didn't bother to correct her on the fact that it wasn't hers. It was Alex's.

"We just kinda fought," Jo felt uncomfortable under the older woman's gaze.

"About what?" It wasn't really a surprise to Meredith. Fighting over stupid stuff was a regular part of their relationship. It was usually never serious. Cristina told her there was a lot of door slamming when Alex was in his drunk, whiny mood. But there was one thing that puzzled her: why was Wilson standing outside after midnight soaking wet?

"Can I come in and tell you?" Jo asked hopefully. Meredith considered telling her no so she could go back to bed but seeing how cold Jo was becoming made her reconsider. Stupid nurturing hormones.

"Come in," she sighed, standing to the side to let her in. Wilson thanked her profusely.

After making a pot of coffee, the two women sat down on the couch. Meredith motioned for her to begin.

"I came home to find Izzie in the living room, topless," Jo began after she took a sip of her coffee.

"She what?" Meredith's jaw dropped and her small eyes were wide. If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jo would have found her expression quite comical. Meredith recovered quickly. "You know he didn't do anything with her, right?"

"I know. That's not the issue."

"Than what is?" Meredith questioned. "Are you having cold feet? Because if you are, it's normal. You'll feel fine after the wedding."

The mention of the wedding made Jo feel even more crummy. It brought tears to her eyes and she closed them so she wouldn't cry in front of Meredith.

"I...I can't marry him, Dr. Grey," Jo almost sobbed.

Meredith was so stunned that she didn't even remind the resident to call her Meredith. "What do you mean you can't marry him?" she demanded.

 _Please don't kick me out._

Jo lowered her head. She didn't want to look up and see Meredith's disappointed face. "I...I, uh-"

"Is this because of what Izzie did?" Meredith grew a little angry. "Because Alex didn't do anything!"

"I know he didn't do anything!" Jo snapped, breathing heavily.

Nobody spoke for a moment. Jo was glaring at Meredith who was glaring right back at her.

"I know he didn't do anything," Jo repeated. "But ever since Izzie came back I've almost gotten fired and everyone hates me now."

"And that's Alex's fault?" Meredith raised her eyebrows.

Jo sighed with frustration. "No-"

"Than why can't you marry him? Wilson, you haven't been this whiny or selfish in a while."

Jo almost winced at her words. Meredith hadn't been so harsh with her in a long while. She also hadn't called her by her last name in a long while either.

"What did you tell him?" Meredith asked with crossed arms.

Jo bit her lip. "I told him that he could just marry Izzie."

Meredith didn't say anything; just stared at Jo with an unreadable expression before shaking her head.

"Do you know why their marriage didn't work out?"

Of all the possible questions that Jo expected to hear, this was not one of them. "Because she just left him with a note?"

"Because they didn't love each other equally."

Seeing Jo's confused expression, she continued, "Alex had loved her with his whole heart. He was there when she had cancer. He was there when she went back to work. He was there when she blamed him for her losing her job. He was there even when she left him. Izzie thought she was in love. But she was in love with being married, but not being married _to_ him."

Jo didn't know what to say. She could only nod to show she was listening.

"Do you love him, Jo? Do you want to be married to him?" Meredith asked softly.

"Of course, I do," Jo answered truthfully. "I've never loved anyone the way I love Alex."

"And don't you want to marry him?" Meredith pressed on.

All at once, Jo's calm demeanor changed. She looked worried and jittery.

"Of course, I want to marry him," she said nervously, "but I can't."

"Why?"

'Well," she opened her mouth than shut it quickly. "Never mind."

Meredith frowned at Jo. She couldn't help but wonder what happened. Jo had been ecstatic to marry Alex. She loved the engagement party, well, except for Izzie accusing her of sleeping with him for surgeries. Jo wasn't the type of person to cheat so that ruled out her falling for another person. And it wasn't anything Izzie did, which was miraculous in itself. So, what made her reconsider her future with Alex?

"I just can't," Jo sniffed. "Not again."

And that's when it hit Meredith.

"You're scared Alex will be abusive," Meredith could sympathize with her. Her marriage with Derek had never been an abusive one but her relationship with her mother was another story. Her mother never hit her but on more than one occasion had been emotionally abusive. Mer understood how low a person could feel after something like that.

Jo bursts into tears. "Yes," she nodded through her tears. "I'm sorry. You must hate me now."

"Why would I hate you?" Meredith tucked her feet underneath her to keep them warm.

"Because Alex is your best friend. And I-" Jo was rambling but got cut off.

"Jo, I get it."

"What?"

"I get it. I was emotionally abused by my mother before she died."

This bit of information shocked the young resident. Of all what she'd heard about Ellis Grey, never had anyone mention this.

Jo wanted to say that she was sorry; that it must have sucked, but she kept her mouth shut. If anyone said those words to her, she would've gotten annoyed and rolled her eyes. Saying sorry when you weren't even involved meant nothing.

"So why are you scared? Alex doesn't hit women," Meredith chose her words carefully so Jo wouldn't think she was upset at her.

Wiping her face with her sleeve, Jo put her head in her hands.

"I know. B-but Paul was like Alex," she whispered. "He was so sweet and made me feel special. I thought he was soulmate."

"People are deceiving," Meredith shrugged. "Can I ask you something?"

Jo lifted her head up with interest. "Sure."

"When did he start abusing you?" Meredith inwardly cringed at how nosey that sounded. 'Sorry, that's none of my business."

"It's fine," Jo took a deep breath. "It wasn't too long after we got married. I was in med school and I got home late one day so he didn't get dinner right as he came home from work. He was so angry," by now there were tears in her eyes and the light made them glisten. "He slapped me. I was so shocked I didn't move. He apologized after he calmed down. He said he didn't mean to, he was just crabby after a long day at work and I," she shook her head, smiling bitterly, "I believed him. He said if I just did as I was told there would be no problems."

Meredith smiled sadly. Alex had mentioned how Jo ran away after Paul almost killed her in a drunken rage.

"I know I shouldn't be afraid," Jo spoke again. "But I can't help but wonder what if I do something wrong and Alex hits me. Or if he gets drunk and tries to hurt me."

Meredith reached to hold Jo's hand. "Alex won't hurt you. If anything, he'll hurt Paul for hurting you. He cares about you a lot; more than he's cared for others. That includes Izzie."

Jo smiled weakly. "Thanks Meredith."

"No problem," Mer patted her hand. She glanced at the clock then at Jo. It was after midnight.

Jo stood up, looking determined. "I'm going to fix this," she told Meredith seriously. She picked up her backpack and headed out the door.

Meredith watched from the doorway, smiling fondly. No matter how messed up they were, or how often they fought, Alex and Jo would always find their way back to each other.


	24. Chapter 24

**Ch 24**

 **So sorry that it's been a bit since my last update! I've had some major writer's block. But don't worry, this story will get finished!**

Jo rushed home. She didn't even bother to take a bus or taxi; just ran through the sidewalk while lugging around her backpack that she just _had_ to fill up. She ignored the stares from the strangers she passed.

 _Please still be home. Please still be home_.

Jo prayed that Alex didn't go drinking to drown his sorrows-she really didn't want to deal with his drunken self right now-or worse, find a girl to sleep with. Okay, so she was overreacting a bit.

When their apartment came into view, Jo was relieved to see Alex's car was still parked. She made her way to the stairs and walked up slowly. She hoped the door was still unlocked; she didn't have her key.

Luckily it was. Jo took a deep breath and opened the door. The TV was on, Cristina was watching some program while munching on chips. Stephanie was laying on the couch, looking engrossed in whatever they were watching.

Neither seemed to notice her until she cleared her throat.

"Jo!" Stephanie stood up. "Where'd you go? Is it true you called off the wedding?"

Jo winched a bit when the reminder hit her. "I went to Meredith's. She convinced me to marry him."

Cristina snorted from the chair. And it wasn't from her TV program.

"What?" Jo said frustrated.

"You have too many personalities," Cristina remarked, tossing another chip in her mouth.

"I do not," Jo said defensively.

"Oh really? You're all happy, then super sad. You're angry than you don't know how to feel. You want to marry Alex then you suddenly can't," Cristina's eyes never left the TV. "Am I wrong?"

A pang of guilt hit Jo. Cristina was totally right. That _was_ how she acted. She really needed to talk to Alex.

"Is Alex upstairs?" Jo asked, desperately.

"For now."

Jo didn't even want to ask what she meant. She shared a glance with Stephanie and made her way upstairs.

The door to their bedroom was shut. She felt a bit scared to open it. What if she really messed up this time and Alex didn't want to marry her?

Gently opening the door, Jo spotted Alex on their bed, staring absentmindedly at nothing.

"Hey..." she looked away when he gazed over at her.

"Your home," he said emotionlessly.

"Yeah," she fidgets a bit before coming forward into the bedroom. "Look, Alex, I'm really sorry for this. I talked with Meredith and-"

"And what?" Alex boomed, startling her and making her jump. "You suddenly want to marry me again? Because I don't know if I can do this, Jo?"

"Do what?" she asked desperately.

"This," he motioned the two of them. "I can't keep running back to you after you have your little fits. What, when we get married are you going to mention a divorce after every fight?"

"No!" Jo cried. "Alex, please-"

Alex stood up, staring at her with cold eyes. Jo hadn't seen Alex like this in a really long time. It started to scare her.

"Alex," she said in a shaky voice, "please listen. I was wrong to say what I did."

Alex nodded his head and crossed his arms. His facial expression is unreadable. He chuckled suddenly.

"You're just like Izzie."

And just like that, Jo Wilson's heart broke into tiny pieces. The last thing she ever wanted to be was Izzie Stevens.

She couldn't even speak. A lump formed in her throat and all she wanted to do was cry. Finally, after a few minutes, Jo spoke.

"Do you even want to marry me, still?"

Alex didn't even glance in her direction.

"Why should I? You said it yourself that I should just marry Izzie," he said coldly,

Jo's heart dropped. "So, you're going to marry her?"

He scowled at the thought. "Of course not."

Jo relaxed.

"Alex, please," she tried again. 'Listen to me."

He didn't respond. After a minute, which, to Jo, felt like an eternity, he said, "Five minutes."

She dove right in.

"I wasn't mad at you for Izzie. I knew you didn't do anything. I just...I was scared to get married again." He raised his eyebrows with interest. "Meredith helped me realize that I do want to marry you. I love you! I'm just afraid this will be like my marriage to Paul." Her voice drops at the mention of her ex.

Jo felt her body freeze when Alex stares at her with an unreadable expression. She let out a gasp when he suddenly pushes her against the wall and his lips crash against hers.

"I missed you," he said in between kisses. "And I'm sorry."

"For what?" Jo almost let out a moan when he starts to travel down her neck.

"Not understanding."

"Don't be sorry," she told him quietly. "I need to communicate more."

Alex picked her up in his arms and laid her on the bed. Instead of ripping each other's clothes off, they looked into each other's eyes for a long while.

"Did you really think I'd hurt you?" Alex asked softly, caressing her cheek.

Jo blushed. "Well, kind of. I don't know. I was scared."

"You don't have a reason to be," Alex assured her. "I'd never hurt you." Jo lunged at him, burying her face into his shoulder. He felt her tears staining his shirt but didn't mind. He was just happy to have her back in his arms.

"Jo," he said softly.

"What?" she hiccupped, raising her head. Her eyes were red and puffy. All Alex wanted to do was pull her close and never let her go; to reassure her that he wasn't Paul. He would never be like Paul.

"Yeah?" she asked tearfully.

"I love you and I'm sorry I was such a jerk," he breathed.

Jo shook her head. "No, no. I was the jerk. I'm letting everything get to me. I'm so sorry, Alex. And if you don't want to marry me I understand."

Alex stared at her incredulously. "I'd be an idiot if I didn't."

Jo glanced at him hopefully. "You mean...?"

Alex cupped her face. "I want you, Jo Wilson. I want to wake up every morning with you by my side. I want to you to have amazing sex with. I want you as my wife."

Jo threw her arms around his neck, silently crying. "I love you jerk."

"And I love you Princess."


	25. Chapter 25

**Ch 25**

Jo groaned when she felt something press against her neck. She waved her hand at it and it stopped momentarily. Much to her annoyance, it happened again; only this time, it touched her lips as well.

"Hmm-Alex?" she half opened her eyelid and saw Alex hovering over her, smiling softly.

"Good morning," he kissed her lips tenderly. "How did you sleep?"

"Better than I have in a while," she responded truthfully, running her fingers through his tousled hair.

"Good," he quickly pecked her lips. Standing up, he threw a t-shirt on. "You might want to get up," he motioned toward the clock. She gasped. They had to leave in seven minutes! "Why didn't you wake me sooner!" she hurriedly stripped from her pajamas and threw on her street clothes.

He shrugged. "You looked to peaceful." Jo couldn't help but smile. Alex was sweet even when he didn't mean to be.

"So," Cristina pushed the door open and barged in. Jo had gotten used to her doing this so she didn't even squeal at the fact that she hadn't put her shirt on yet. "I see you two are back together."

Alex glared at her. "Don't you know how to knock?"

"I'll knock when you learn to put pants on," Cristina retorted. "Put that thing away. No one needs to see that."

Jo snickered at the furious yet forced calm expression on Alex's face.

"Get out," he snarled.

"So is the wedding on or off?" Cristina asked, ignoring Alex completely.

"It's on," Jo confirmed brightly.

Cristina nodded curtly. "Good. Now I won't have to watch Evil Spawn mope around like some girl."

"I do not mope!"

JolexJolexJolex

Jo couldn't help but smirk at the incredulous facial expression Izzie had when she saw them walking into work that morning holding hands. The blonde was at the nurse's station, flipping through charts all the while watching the couple with beady eyes.

Jo broke away from Alex's hand, winked, and sashayed over to Izzie. The blonde looked startled. She backed up a bit as Jo leaned on the counter.

"Look," she said sweetly, "I have had enough of this. You've been nothing but horrible since you've arrived."

"Jo," Alex didn't want her to do anything she would regret. 'Don't."

"No, Alex. I need to do this," Jo's eyes bore into Izzie's. "Listen to me when I say that you will _never_ marry Alex. You will _never_ flirt with him. You will _never_ , and I mean _never_ , come into our house again and rip your shirt off when you see me coming," Jo heard the gasps from behind her and her smirk widened. Izzie became noticeably pale. "Oh and that little stunt trying to get me fired was real cute. And you know what, I don't care what everyone thinks about me. I've got friends and a great fiancee. I'm about to take my boards. I don't have time for your petty drama. Grow up." With that, Jo grabbed Alex's hand again and made her way to the locker room; feeling satisfied when the whispers and laughter began.

"That was amazing!" Stephanie said through her laughter. 'Did you see her face? I thought she was going to faint!"

Jo allowed herself to grin. Izzie Stevens sure hadn't expected that; and frankly, neither had anyone else.

"Jo," Ben and Shane came jogging in. "Is it true that you laid into Stevens?" Ben asked.

"You bet she did!" Stephanie said excitedly before Jo could answer.

"Wow," Ben nodded in approval. Even Shane looked impressed.

"Guys, I'm not gonna get fired, am I?" Jo asked abruptly, looking worried. "I just talked back to a superior!"

"I'd hardly call Stevens a superior," Stephanie snorted.

'Steph, this is serious," Jo chided.

"I don't think you'll get in trouble," Leah Murphy awkwardly stood in the doorway.

Stephanie glared at her, daring her to speaking out of line.

"Really?" Jo said, forgetting that she wasn't talking to Leah at the moment.

Leah nodded. "She's getting yelled at by Bailey."

 _Thank you Bailey_.

"Oh." Jo watched Leah go to her locker, avoiding everyone's stare's. But before she opened her locker, she bit her lip and whirled around to face Jo.

"I'm sorry I believed her and not you. I should've asked you first before listening to some stupid rumors. I'm sorry for what I said about you and Karev. It was uncalled for. I understand if you hate me and don't want me at the wedding. Again, I'm sorry."

Jo was speechless. Leah Murphy was not one to apologize. Jo didn't know if the apology or her sincere sounding tone was more astounding.

"That's okay," she choked out. 'I forgive you. And of course I want you at the wedding," she smiled somewhat awkwardly at her.

Stephanie stared at Jo then flickered her gaze to Leah.

"You're just going to forgive her?' she hissed at Jo, quietly. "Just like that?"

'Yes," Jo said simply. At Stephanie's look of incredulity, she added, "I'm tired of the fighting. I just want to be married and have some peace."

Stephanie wanted to interrogate her more but knew better. An angry Jo could be worse than an angry Leah. So she just smiled and nodded. "I hear ya."

The residents quickly dressed and were ready to head out for the day.

"I'll go tell Cross the truth," Leah promised as she headed in the opposite direction.

"That was weird," Stephanie declared once Leah was out of hearing range.

"Very," Jo agreed. She brightened up when Alex came into view.

"Hey," she stood on her tip toes to gently caress her lips with his. What was meant to be a small kiss turned into more rough kisses. Stephanie cleared her throat from behind them. The couple reluctantly broke away.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Alex scowled.

"I'm with you, today," she replied, with raised eyebrows. "Shouldn't you know that?"

"Shut up," he grumbled. He kissed Jo one more time before walking away. 'I'll see you later!" he called over his shoulder.

A feeling of excitement fluttered in Jo's stomach. Things were finally getting back on track. And the best part was that by tomorrow afternoon, she would be Mrs. Alex Karev.

Life was sweet.

 **Okay, short I know and not much action but I PROMISE next chapter will be better. For those excited for the wedding, it's getting close! Only a few more chapters until then!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Ch 26**

Izzie Stevens was fuming. How dare Wilson embarrass her like that in front of everyone like that? Everytime she passed a fellow coworker they whispered or snickered at her expense. And Alex...he didn't even try to stop her! Just stood there and even looked proud of her! She couldn't believe how much he'd changed. The Alex she knew wouldn't do that. He would've stopped it right away. She growled, bending her pen she was holding. She'd gone to Bailey straight away and told her exactly what Wilson did. You can imagine her shock when Bailey dismissed her, saying she had more important things to take care of than to deal with _her_ childish antics. Her! Izzie inwardly scoffed. As if she'd done anything.

Izzie sighed. The whole hospital had changed while she was away, not in a good way either. The whole hospital was going down the drain.

She was busy charting, everyone she asked refused to do it for her now that Wilson had had her little outburst this morning, when she saw Meredith walking by herself to one of the on-call. That was it! Meredith always listened when she ranted before, why not now? She hurriedly gave the charge nurse the chart, ignoring the smirk on her face, and rushed to the door.

"Mer!" she burst in, startling the other woman.

"Izzie!" Meredith yelled angrily. "What do you think you're doing?" She was laying on the bottom bunk of the bed, glaring at the blonde.

"Oh, Mer," Izzie slumped down on the floor, leaning against the wall across from her. "Did you hear what Wilson said to me this morning?"

"Yes," Meredith replied slowly. "What about it?"

"What about it?" Izzie exclaimed. "What about it? She humiliated me!"

"Because she made you face the truth?" Meredith raised her eyebrows.

The blonde's confidence in her friend faltered. "I-what-no! It wasn't the truth," she protested weakly.

"Really? So you didn't try to get her fired? You didn't stand topless in their apartment?"

"I just...Mer! You're supposed to be on my side! Why are you taking her side?"

Meredith stared at her in a way that could only be described as disgusted. "Alex is my best friend-"

"I thought I was your best friend?" Izzie whined.

"You haven't been my best friend since you left Alex."

Izzie spluttered. "That was forever ago Mer! How can you hold that against me?"

"You hurt my best friend and you hurt me." With that, Meredith stood up and walked right out the door, leaving Izzie sitting on the floor, jaw dropped in astoundment.

JolexJolexJolex

Jo just finished checking on Allison Stromer, even though she wasn't her patient today. The teenager was fairly well except for some abdominal pain and her short tempered mother. Jo felt lucky she escaped the years that her mother would've (and should've) been apart of.

Stephanie rushed over to her, nearly giving her a heart attack. "Tomorrows the big day!" she beamed.

Clutching her chest, Jo glared at her. "Steph!"

'What?" Stephanie's face was innocent.

"I hate you."

"You love me," Stephanie waved away her claim. She propped her elbows on the counter, looking interested. "So, having any more cold feet? Please tell me you don't have cold feet."

Jo rolled her eyes. She sat the chart down, leaning against the counter lazily. "No. Don't worry. I have no doubts in my mind that this is what I want."

Stephanie sighed in relief. "I don't think I could've taken another one of those."

Jo ignored the embarrassed feeling that bubbled up inside her. Instead, she said, "Everyone apologized to me."

"Did they?" Stephanie's interest was peaked. " _Everyone_?"

"Everyone," she confirmed. "They told me how sorry they were for believing Dr. Stevens over me. Cross begged me to forgive him."

"Did you?" Stephanie snickered. Jo gave her a hard look.

"Of course. He practically cried on my scrubs.."

"Like a baby?"

"Like a baby.."

JolexJolexJolex

Jo waited outside the hospital for Alex, bouncing on her heels. She could hardly concentrate all day. Tomorrow was her wedding. She, Jo Wilson, would be marrying Alex Karev. She could hardly imagine it to be true. Never would she have ever thought that she would be married again, let alone to the jerk she met on her first day of her internship. Fate was funny like that, she supposed.

As per tradition, Stephanie insisted she and Alex sleep separately in different houses the night before the wedding. Jo wasn't sure why they would be going through that, after all, it was hardly a traditional wedding. Yet she agreed; so did Alex, reluctantly. He would be at Meredith's and she at the frat house. Jo snorted at the thought. She could only imagine how many women ALex had at the house before they met. Seeing that it was Alex, that told her enough.

"Hey," Alex greeted, stepping beside her. He pulled her close to him and crashed his lips against hers. She felt her legs weaken. They stayed like that for a minute or so until their lungs begged for air. Breaking apart, Alex cupped her face, staring deep into her eyes.

"Want to have a quickie?" he muttered, after making sure no one-ahem, Stephanie-was listening in. "We can go for a drink and stop at a hotel and you can be back by three," she stared at him incredulously. "Okay five."

"As much as I'd love to," she said dryly, "I told Steph I'd be back by midnight."

"For what?" he groaned, cursing Stephanie foiling his plans. "What could she possibly want you for?"

"I don't know," Jo shrugged. "She said it was a surprise."

Alex grumbled and kissed her roughly again. "Stupid Edwards."

"Hey," she scolded. "Be nice." She kissed him once last time and began to go to her car. "See you tomorrow jerk!" she called over her shoulder.

"Goodbye Mrs. Karev," he called back, teasingly, making her blush.

Jo got in her car and sped of back to the frat house. She arrived to a houseful of females; April, Stephanie and Arizona were cheerful, Cristina was sulking and irritated at being there, Meredith was neutral, and Bailey was on her way.

"What's all this?" she said warily.

Stephanie came rushing to her wearing a birthday hat. "It's your bachelorette party?"

"I said I didn't want one," Jo insisted. "And why are you wearing a birthday hat?"

Sighing exasperatedly, Stephanie said, "Apparently the store ran out of bachelorette stuff so I had to settle for birthday."

"Is there booze?" Cristina spoke up. "Or tequila? I take either." Beside her, Meredith elbowed her side.

"This is Jo's party," she scolded. "Behave." Cristina snorted.

Jo stood in the doorway, completely clueless. "What are we supposed to do?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Oh!" April squealed. "We can play games." Cristina and Jo stared at her.

"Like what? Duck duck goose?" Cristina mocked. The redhead laughed at her suggestion.

"No! Truth or dare."

"What are we televe?" Cristina said. "I'm not playing."

"Oh, come on," Meredith persuaded. "It could be fun."

"It would not be fun," Cristin shook her head.

"I have to agree with Cristina," Jo said.

"Well," Arizona thought for a moment before her eyes lit up. "Oh! Let's get in a circle and talk about the men, or women, in our lives and what they mean to us." She hurriedly got them in a circle before Cristina or Jo could complain.

"This is stupid," Cristina huffed.

"No it's not! Jo, you're the bride so you go first," Arizona encouraged.

"I take that back. It's not stupid," Cristina smirked.

Jo opened her mouth but was relieved when someone knocked on the door. _It must be Bailey_.

"Come in!" she called. The door opened and in came Bailey. She was wearing a sexy black dress and heels. Most of the women whistled.

"Oh, hot date Bailey?"

"Ben and I have a date at Joe's soon," Bailey sat down gracefully on a chair provided by Arizona.

"What? You should go! You don't have to be here," Jo tried to tell her. "I didn't even want a party," she glared pointedly at Arizona and Stephanie.

"Nonsense," Bailey waved her hand dismissively. " I was invited and I intend to stay. Ben can wait. Besides, I plan on getting some cake before I leave."

"There's cake?" Jo blinked in surprise.

"There's always cakes at parties," Stephanie grinned.

"Now where were we?" Arizona interrupted. Jo groaned.

"Okay...okay.." she divulged into everything she felt for Alex, making all the women, except for Bailey and Cristina, squeal and coo at the romance.

Jo glanced around the room and sighed contently. She had friends, a fiancee, and a life. Paul didn't take away everything from her.

JolexJolexJolex

Alex laid in bed contemplating life. Tomorrow he was marrying Jo. Tomorrow he was getting married, _again_. Tomorrow he was starting a life with the woman he loved. It was crazy, really. Ever since he was young Alex Karev was a womanizer. He had sex with any woman he wanted without thinking of the consequences. Heck, he had sex with the school nurse. Even at Seattle Grace, when it had been Seattle Grace, anyway, he used the on-call rooms like he was on life support. He didn't care. He was Alex Karev, he could do what he wanted.

Yet everything changed when he met Jo. He could tried to deny it at first, Alex Karev did not fall in love. But after seeing her with Peckwell, he just couldn't stand the sight of someone with _his_ Jo.

He didn't deserve Jo. He knew that much. After all that he'd done he didn't deserve a happy ending. But yet Jo was marrying him, after several failed attempts at proposing. He sighed. He would not screw this up. His marriage to Izzie had been a disaster but this wouldn't be. He'd treat her right. He'd let her know she was loved and wanted at every step. She would never question his motives with her. She would never question anything.

This marriage would be his last.

 **SO yeah, I updated. Ya'll will be happy to note that wedding is in the next chapter! I'm so excited to write it! Also, I'm in the beginning of writing a sequel to this and wanted to know if anyone would want to read it. The summary will go something like this: Alex and Jo are returning back to work after their honeymoon and things are going smoothly. They're adjusting to married life and Jo's studying for her boards. They meet a little girl who's admitted for a chronic sickness and find out she's homeless. (or maybe she'll be abused idk). That's all i got so far but would anyone be interested in reading that?**


	27. Chapter 27

**I want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing, that means a lot to me. This chapter's a long one but you'll definitely enjoy it. After that there's one more regular chapter then the epilog. See disclaimer at the end.**

* * *

Izzie was finishing up her night shift when she heard people talking. She wasn't sure what they were talking about because every time she came near, they stopped and walked away.

 _All because of Wilson!_

Wilson ruined everything! She almost got fired and got a severe talking to by Bailey, Weber and Catherine Avery for her behavior. She was sure Wilson whined and cried and that the only reason they did it was to please her. Izzie couldn't understand why Alex would love a spoiled brat over her.

She closed the chart, rested her head on her hands and sighed. Something was different about today but what, Izzie didn't know. She could just feel it, the feeling you got before something bad happened. A few feet away from her, Bailey was in a conversation with Dr. Webber; not that she cared. It was probably about the hospital or the residents or something.

"Are you ready to leave yet?"

"Sir, the wedding doesn't start for another hour. We'll be fine."

Izzie stopped dead. A wedding? What wedding? She racked her brain; none of her friends were getting married, so who-

 _Alex_.

Alex and Wilson were getting married, she remembered, panicking. That was today! Oh, how did she not know that? Her stomach dropped and her heart pounded in her chest. She couldn't lose him, not after everything.

She slumped down in a chair in the waiting room. This was it. She was losing her Alex forever. Tears brimmed in her eyes and choked back a sob. This wasn't supposed to happen. She dreamed that coming back to Grey Sloan would bring back old feelings between her and Alex. They were supposed to be happily in love. They were supposed to be getting married. They were supposed to have a blonde haired, blue eyed boy and brown haired and brown eyed girl. She had it all planned out. She would work until it was time for her babies to come out and become the perfect stay at home wife. Alex would love her unconditionally and they would live happily ever after.

 _Not with Wilson in the way_ , she mentally snarled. She had to do something. Anything. Her face lit up moments later as an idea popped in her head.

She was going to crash that wedding, declaring her love for Alex.

And he would be all hers.

* * *

Jo was rudely awakened by Stephanie shrieking the next morning. Everyone but Bailey had stayed the night (Cristina was forced by Meredith) before to help prepare Jo for the wedding. Cristina had booked the church down the street for her to officiate. The wedding was at eleven and it was ten now.

"Get up! Get up! Get up!" Stephanie yanked her by the arm and rushed around the room looking for what, Jo didn't know.

Jo rubbed her glossy eyes. "What's the matter," she said sleepily. Everyone but herself, Bailey and April had gotten drunk and made fools of themselves last night. She wasn't even sure if any of them would be coherent enough for the wedding.

"Your wedding is in an hour," Stephanie took a deep breath to calm herself. Jo stared. "We have one hour to get you ready! That's it!"

"Isn't that enough?" Jo said with confusion. Her friend spluttered and muttered about newbie brides.

"Come on," Stephanie dragged Jo out of bed and to bathroom. "What do you want to eat?"

"Nothing," Jo admitted. Her friend raised her eyebrows. "I'm nervous! If I eat I'll probably puke."

"If you don't eat you'll puke," Steph pointed out. "Don't' be one of those brides that passes out on her wedding day. I've seen plenty of those."

Jo grumbled in annoyance. "I'll have an apple."

Her friend grinned. "Thought you might want one." She reached into her bag that was laying on the counter.

"You're like Mary freakin Poppins," Jo said, shaking her head.

"Less talky more chewy!" Stephanie called for the others to come up. "After that just brush your teeth and we'll take care of the rest." Out of the corner of her eye, Jo saw April and Arizona. They were glossy eyed and visibly hung over. April had a package of frozen peas she was holding to her head, moaning. Jo wondered where Meredith and Cristina were. Probably passed out, she figured.

"I'm never drinking again," April declared quietly.

"Until the reception," Stephanie snickered. The redhead nodded slowly.

"Until the reception."

* * *

Alex was sleeping quite contently, dreaming of his beautiful future wife; keyword being was.

He felt someone shake his shoulder roughly and he swatted the hands away. Moments later they were at it again! Growling, he opened his eyes and nearly jumped out of his skin. Jackson was there, he had been shaking his shoulder, Owen was there as well, Ben, Webber, DeLuca, and even Ross was there because the girls forbid him to come the party last night because he was male.

"Finally," Jackson said. "Thought you'd never get up. Party hard last night?"

"No," Alex replied, annoyed. Contrary, he'd gone straight to Meredith's house, watched some TV but found that he was oddly nervous so he went to bed.

Jackson snorted but said nothing else.

"What time is it?" Alex groaned, beginning to become irritated with their staring.

"Ten," Jackson said casually. The peds surgeon's' eyes widened and he jumped out of bed.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" Alex became gravely concerned when he couldn't find his scrubs. Where had he put it? Wasn't in the closet nor under the bed or on the chair by the bed. _Did I lose it_? Jo would kill him if he was late to their own wedding.

"Looking for this?" Ben said, amused as he held up his scrubs. "You left it on the couch." Alex snatched it out of his hands.

"And for the record, you'd of probably killed me if I did," Jackson said, taking a seat on the bed. He ignored the dirty look he was given by Alex.

"How about I kill you now?"

"Boys," Webber interrupted, giving them that stern fatherly look he often did. "Alex, eat and get going. We have to be at the church soon. Jackson, stop antagonizing." Ben, DeLuca and Ross snickered but silenced when Webber's gaze fell on them.

"Alright men, I'll cook. Follow me," Owen led everyone, except Alex, out of the room, leaving Alex to think some more.

* * *

"I can't do this," Jo felt like hyperventilating. "I can't do this." She felt like throwing up. Her stomach was in knots and it felt like she had an elephant on her chest. She didn't feel like this when she got married the first time. _Is this what love feels like_?

If so, it sucked.

"Yes you can," Bailey touched her arm comfortingly.

The girls were at the church in one of the back rooms. Cristina was preparing for her officiating duties and everyone else was with Jo. Speaking of Jo, she was all dolled up, well, as dolled up as she had been on her first day. She stood in front of the mirror, her mind wandering back to her first wedding.

"But I'm nervous," she said tearfully. Bailey enveloped her in a tight hug.

"That's natural," Bailey told her. Hesitantly, she asked, "Are you having cold feet?"

"No," Jo said immediately. "No. I want this. I'm sure of it." Bailey looked relieved.

"Good. Good to hear."

"You look beautiful," Meredith told her, taking in her appearance. "Alex won't know what hit him," she winked.

Jo smiled weakly. "Thanks...Mer?"

The older women stopped what she was doing. "Yes?"

"Were you...were you nervous when you married Dr. Shephard?"

"Derek," Meredith corrected with a smile. "You're going to have to call us all by our names eventually."

"Derek. Were you nervous when you married Derek?" Jo asked. Everyone who had known Meredith prior, smiled as they remembered.

Meredith herself sat down on a chair and motioned for Jo to do the same. "I was terrified of marriage, terrified of commitment. I had fears that kept holding me back. You have no idea how many times Derek and I went back and forth, breaking up and getting back together. He wanted me to be his wife and I didn't know what I want. I knew deep down I loved him but I don't know how to show it. It stemmed from my childhood and I still find it hard to show intimacy, love and to feel loved. Even when we did marry, we still had our fair share of problems." April and Arizona nodded with amusement on their faces.

"Boy did you," April muttered. Her face became red when everyone turned to look at her. "Sorry."

* * *

"I can't do this," Alex breathed heavily. "I can't do this," he started to yank at his shirt but Jackson stopped him.

"Dude, it took me twenty minutes to iron that shirt so leave it alone!"

"I don't care!" Alex untucked his shirt from his pants with aggravation. "I can't get married."

"What?" Jackson yelped. "What do you mean you can't get married?"

Alex slumped down into a chair, his face in his hands. "I'm not good enough for Jo."

Jackson and the other men were confused. "What do you mean you're not good enough?" Ben asked.

"Jo has so many things going for her and I can't give her everything she probably wants," Alex sighed, leaning back. "What if she suddenly stops loving me a few weeks in? What if I mess up?" Alex looked at them with real fear in his eyes.

Webber took a seat beside him. "Alex," he began. "I've seen the way Wilson- _Jo_ -looks at you. She love you, son. I've never seen a more compatible and more perfect couple than you two. Let me tell you something, you will mess up," Alex's eyes widened. "You will have problems. You will have fights that make you contemplate if you should've married or not. But at the end of the day, when you're laying in bed with that person, watching them sleep peacefully, you'll know you made the right choice and you can never live without them."

"I guess," Alex said with uncertainty.

"I know so. You two broke up for a while," at this, DeLuca looks sheepish. "But you found your way back to each other. Love is funny that way, Karev."

Alex took a deep breath and smiled. "Okay, I can does this."

"Thatta boy," Richard slapped him on the back. "Now let's tuck that shirt back in..."

* * *

"Are you ready?" Stephanie practically squealed. "It's nearly time!"

Jo was still feeling a bit woozy from all the excitement and the butterflies in her stomach. She bit her lip and nodded mutely.

"Cristina's all ready," Meredith reported. "She wanted me to ask if there's booze at the reception?" She rolled her eyes.

"Yes," Jo cracked a smile. "I made sure of it."

Bailey stood back and admired the young women in a motherly fashion. "You are a beautiful bride, Jo."

Jo was touched. "Thank you Dr. Bailey."

"Miranda," she corrected gently.

"Miranda," Jo nodded. "Thank you."

"So what do I do?" Ross was at the door, standing around awkwardly. The women chuckled.

"You, Arizona and I are going to stand by the alter," Stephanie instructed. "Let's go. Good luck Jo."

"Yeah, good luck," Arizona hugged Jo and followed Ross and Stephanie out the door.

This left Jo with Miranda. "This is it," Jo muttered.

"This is it," Miranda confirmed. "I better be going to the pew. Congratulations," she hugged the taller woman and made her way out the door.

Jo twiddled her thumbs as she waited for cue. This was it. She was marrying Alex. She would Mrs. Alex Karev.

 _I'm marrying the love of my life_.

Jo's thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. The person was not someone Jo expected to see.

" _Izzie_?"

Izzie stepped in, wearing a grand white wedding dress with plump black heels. Her hair was curled and spilled down her back. Her makeup elegant as if she was going to a ball. The beauty on her face was disrupted by the smirk she was wearing.

"What are you doing here?" Jo asked at last when she found her voice. "Why are you wearing that?"

"There's can only be one bride here today," Izzie said, smoothing down her dress. She eyed Jo's attire and let out an unladylike snort. "You aren't even wearing a dress."

A surge of anger went through Jo's body. "We wanted it to be special," she said through grit teeth. Who did this woman think she was?

Izzie smirked. "Well once Alex sees me he'll forget you even existed."

Jo's hands formed into fists. "That's it," she said in a dangerously low voice. "I've had it."

If Izzie had any fear, she didn't show it. "Really."

Jo came closer until she was face to face with the blonde. "I've absolutely had it with your spoiled, whiny attitude!"

Izzie's jaw dropped in shock. Her spoiled? _Her_ whiny? "Excuse me but you stole my husband!" Izzie yelled.

"He's not your husband!" Jo yelled back, not caring if anyone heard her. "He's your ex. You left him. You abandoned him! What kind of person does that?"

Izzie fanned herself, feeling hot from her anger. "I just got over being severely sick!" she said as an excuse. "I was hurting, I just got fired. I-"

"No," Jo snarled. "You don't get to make up excuses."

"Excuses?!" Izzie scoffed.

"Yes, excuses!" Jo started to breath heavier. "When you're married you don't get to be selfish. You don't get to pretend your needs are greater than your spouse. You don't get to run off without any contact or concern for the other person."

Izzie rolled her eyes.

"Marriage is supposed to be a beautiful thing. Marriage is where you find someone you truly love and cherish them for the rest of your life. It's where, if you're lucky enough, you find your soulmate and you create a family if you so choose and you build trust, happiness and self worth. Marriage was the one thing I thought would save me," tears brimmed in her eyes and Jo looked toward the ceiling. "I thought once I married Mr. Right he would save me from all my problems. I thought Paul was Mr. Right."

Izzie tried not to look interested but she motioned for her to continue.

"Paul was a good boyfriend and fiancee. He did did the typical romantic gestures that would make your heart melt. I thought I was so in love with him. He proposed to me shortly before medical school and I accepted. Everything went good until I started med school. He was demanding and bossy and asked me if I talked to any of the guys there." Izzie stared at her incredulously. "I thought this was the typical jealous boyfriend I'd heard that so many girls have. I thought it was cute. I didn't do anything about it nor did I tell anyone; not that I had anyone to. I let it go and one night Paul came home early and I didn't have his dinner prepared. He was so angry and he hit me." Izzie gasped before she could stop herself. "I was in shock. No one had ever done that before."

"Did he do it again?" Izzie's voice trembled.

"Many times," Jo said in an almost monotone voice. "That's why I left him. I had to get away before he killed me like he threatened to do many times."

"DId he rape you?" Izzie held her breath.

"No but he almost did."

Much to Jo's shock, Izzie burst into tears. She sobbed in her hands. "I'm sorry," she wept. "I'm so sorry for everything," she lunged into Jo's arm, burying her face in the younger woman's shoulder. Jo awkwardly patted her back.

"I was horrible to you and I'm sorry! I hope you can forgive me!" Izzie hiccuped.

Jo didn't know what to say. Sure, she could forgive Leah and the others but could she forgive Izzie for everything that she did?

"Sure," Jo forced a smile. "I forgive you." It wasn't a total lie. Jo wasn't the one to hold grudges against people. Izzie's face brightened up as she lifted her body away from Jo's. "But, that doesn't mean we're friends."

Izzie nodded seriously. "Of course not."

"I just have to deal with seeing you at work," Jo said this more to herself than Izzie.

"Actually," Izzie squirmed. This peeked Jo's attention. "You won't."

"I won't?" Jo tried not to show how giddy she felt.

"No," Izzie sighed. "I can't show my face back there after what I did...I'll transfer to another hospital," she said quietly, stunning Jo.

"Oh," she said, unsure of what to say.

Izzie nodded one last time. She glanced down at her attire and grimaced. "I'll leave before anyone sees what a fool I've made of myself. Goodbye Jo. I hope you have a good life with Alex," with that, she slipped out the door.

"Wow," Jo breathed. "Did not see that coming. But who's going to walk me down the aisle?" she mused.

"I will," she heard a male voice say.

"Dr. Webber?" Jo said, tears in her eyes.

"Call me Richard," he smiled. He extended his arm. "Come, we have a wedding to complete."

* * *

The church was beautiful. It was a simple small church with just enough pews for everyone. Cristina was standing at the altar, dressed in her scrubs, ready for it to begin. Alex squirmed nervously with Jackson and Meredith by his side. If he didn't soak his scrubs by the time it was over, it'd be a miracle.

Across from him, Edwards and Robbins were chatting excitedly. Ross was quiet; hardly speaking except when Cristina asked about a patient they were treating. How that guy was training to be a surgeon was beyond him.

"You'll be fine." Meredith's soft voice jarred Alex from his thoughts.

"What?"

"You'll be fine. You're nervous, it's understandable," Meredith shrugged.

"It's stupid," he sighed with a touch of irritation. "Jo's probably not nervous." He heard Meredith uncharacteristically snort.

The organ began playing, courtesy of April, and Alex straightened up. Cristina stood at her place, looking bored.

"I hope we get booze soon," she told Meredith.

"Would you shut up!" Alex hissed at her. She snorted and continued her conversation. Alex massaged his temples. Why he let Jo talk him into letting Cristina officiate, he'd never know. He nervously tugged at his scrub top, feeling hot from the extra shirt underneath of it.

Before long, he saw Jo at the end of the aisle with Webber holding her arm like her father should've been doing. Alex mentally cursed the man. He was missing out on Jo's big day. She may have been able to convince everyone else she was fine with it but he knew better. He knew she secretly wanted her parents to be with her. He hoped one day she would get the closure she needed.

"She looks beautiful," he heard Arizona gush and he had to agree.

By chance, Jo had managed to take a pair of intern scrubs and wore her hair up in a ponytail just like when they first met. From what he could see, she wore minimal makeup; eyeliner and a bit of lip gloss. Alex thought she was the most beautiful bride in the world.

Zola was the flower girl, she gaily threw flower petals everywhere, smiling at her "uncle" as she did so. Bailey was the ring bearer, he stumbled a bit but came up to the front to stand by his mom.

"Does anyone give this bride away?" Cristian asked. Alex was impressed with how professional she sounded.

"I do," Richard said. He kissed Jo on the cheek and went to sit down next to Catherine.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the wedding of Jo and Alex. If anyone objects to this union, speak now or forever hold your peace," Cristina spoke up.

Those who dealt with or suffered by Izzie Stevens glanced around to make sure the lunatic wasn't in the building.

"Good," Cristina flipped through her small book. "The couple had decided to make their own vows. Alex, you're first."

Alex took a deep breath and pulled a small piece of paper from his scrub top pocket. "Jo," he began, staring into her eyes with a deep passion. "I've been with so many women in my life, more then I could count," most of the guest grimaced or rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, more than the stars in the sky," Cristina interjected.

"Cristina!" Meredith reprimanded.

Alex continued. "I always had a one night stand or casual sex. I never thought I'd find my soulmate. But then I met you," Jo's eyes watered. "Jo you complete me. You're the reason I get up in the morning. You're the reason I smile. I know we've had plenty of issues in our relationship but we got past it. I like to think we're unbeatable. Jo Wilson I can't wait until I have you as my wife and I can wake up to your beautiful face every morning. I love you." The women in the crowd awed, Arizona being the loudest.

Cristina made a jerking motioning Jo's direction. "You're next."

"Alex," Jo smiled softly. "I didn't have an easy life. I had no parents, no friends and the only person who I could ever confided in was my old teacher. I was so suspicious of men and their intentions after what happened with Paul. But you, you're a real man. You make me feel whole and wanted. You make me feel like I matter. I I have never fallen in love so deeply as I have with you. I love you Alex Karev," she finished.

The couple stared into each other's eyes. "Alright, alright, break it up," Cristina grumbled. "WHo has the rings?"

"I do," Bailey said with a grin on his little face. He handed his uncle Alex the rings.

"Do you, Alexander Michael Karev take Josephine Alice Wilson to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Cristina said.

"I do," he breathed.

"Do you Josephine Alice WIlson take Alexander Michael Karev to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Then the power vested in me and all the tequila I drank before this," she ignored the incredulous stare from Meredith, "I now announce you as Mr. and Mrs. Evil Spawn. You may kiss your bride."

Alex took a step toward Jo but then stopped to everyone's confusion. "Got a name intern?" he whispered.

"Jo Wilson," she replied casually with a large grin.

"Ah, nice. I like chicks with boys names," he smirked. Cupping her face he pulled her in and pressed his lips against hers for a long overdue kiss.


	28. Chapter 28

**Hey all! So I don't really have an excuse for not writing other then not having any inspiration. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and the epilogue, the final chapter, is next! The sequel will be up as soon as I get the chance to begin writing it. Again thank you for all the reviews and everything it's so encouraging.**

 _I really need to get a handle on myself._

The wedding was (finally) over and now her nerves could take a break. Jo had a been a wreck on all morning, overwhelmed with excitement, nervousness, fear. She'd cried a few times and even now as she sat with her _husband_ at the reception, a few stray tears glistened in her eyes, making them sparkle in the light.

She felt Alex's thumb ever so gently wipe them away. "You okay?" he whispered. "We can call this whole thing off and go back to our place for Chinese and beer."

 _I have never met a more kind, considerate man._ "I'm fine," she reassured. "Just a little emotional from everything. Reminds me of my last wedding in a way."

Alex nodded, unsure of what to say, caressing her hand with his thumb comfortingly.

"Besides," she continued. "April and Arizona worked hard on this." Despite original instructions, April and Arizona took it upon themselves to decorate the hall to the best of their abilities. April insisted that since their wedding was untraditional, that just meant that decorating was a necessity.

"So?"

"So," she rolled her eyes. _Men._ "We can't just walk out."

"Really? Watch me." there was a playful undertone in his voice. Jo smirked.

"If you grin and bear it I'll show you the present I bought for later," she said teasingly.

Alex's eyebrows furrowed before a look of surprise flickered across his face. He caught the innuendo and grinned devilishly.

"Why I might have to take you up on that offer Dr. Wilson."

"It's Karev now," she corrected with a smile.

"Too true," he murmured, giving her neck a much needed kiss.

"Not here," she moaned when his lips made contact. "L-Later."

"Oh gross," someone said in disgust. Neither were shocked to find it to be Cristina. "Mer, look at them! They're practically having sex now."

"No we're not," Jo said in embarrassment when people began to stare. "He just kissed me, that's all."

"Yeah, like this," Alex grabbed her gently by the chin and brought her lips to his. It was far from their first kiss yet it still brought butterflies to her stomach.

"Awww," April and Arizona cooed.

"That's so romantic," April sighed.

"It's adorable," Arizona added.

"It's sickening," Stephanie snorted. Alex glared at her but feeling Jo's hand on his cheek calmed him instantly.

"Just grin and bear," she reminded him in a whisper.

A soft melody began playing in the background. Most of the couples looped arms, swaying to the music. Those who weren't in a relationship or just wanted to hangout with friends danced in a semi large group; a group Stephanie, April, and Arizona were apart of.

"Want to dance?" Jo asked Alex casually. She knew dancing wasn't something he was keen on. He expressed that several times. But hey, it was their wedding, something she never thought would happen. She could hope for a miracle.

"Eh, no. Not really," Alex declined in his usual fashion.

"Oh," she smiled pleasantly even though inside she was a little hurt. It wasn't even from him saying no but his nonchalant way that made it clear as day that she should've known the answer already.

Her husband glanced back at her. "Well, you're not upset, are you? It's just dancing."

 _Don't strangle him_ , she thought wryly. _You can't do surgery in prison_.

"Of course not." was it just her or was he acting weird? Every so often he'd look over to his right where, further down, was a set of doors that led to another part of the hospital.

"Are you alright? You look nervous?"

She'd only said that to see his reaction. But now, in sequence with the wide eyes and dry mouth, he _did_ look nervous.

 _What's he hiding?_

"I'm fine," he insisted.

"Okay," she said, unconvinced.

With a swift glance at his watch, he suddenly rose to his feet . "I've got to go."

"What?" her heart practically stopped. "Why? Alex, this is _our_ reception. What could be more important than this?" she didn't mean to totally whine like she did; she blamed it on stress.

"It won't take me long," he disappeared within the crowd, leaving her all alone. Tears began welling in her eyes. Why was he doing this? He'd been so eager to get married. What was going on?

"Here, take this," Stephanie was at her side with a handkerchief. "I will not let you ruin your makeup. That is a piece of artwork, girl."

Jo smiled weakly at the feeble attempt at a joke. She knew Steph only wanted to make her feel better but it didn't. It just reminded her of the nerves and excitement she'd felt before the actual wedding.

"Alex left," Jo said softly. "He said he needed to go and that it won't take him long. Can you believe that?"

To her surprise, Stephanie didn't react like she expected. Typically, if Alex did something stupid she'd rant about men but this time she didn't. Instead, she grinned; she actually _grinned_ and said, "That's nice. I'm sure it's fine. Don't be so upset."

Jo gaped like a fish out of water at her best friend. "Who are you and what have you done with Stephanie?" she demanded, only half joking.

Steph never got a chance to answer. Without warning, the lights in the hall toned down and the music playing from April's laptop stopped, replaced with an instrumental version of a song Jo had never heard of.

"WHat is going on?" Jo murmured aloud. Beside her, Stephanie grinned once more and opened her mouth.

"Girl you got me trippin on sunshine."

"W-what?" Jo stared. "What are you doing?" she whispered-shouted.

"God knows you just made my day. SInce you came around no, I just can't slow down, no, I wanna see you walking' my way."

 _That was...weird_.

"Girl you got me thinkin' bout diamonds," Ben gripped Dr. Bailey's, no, _Miranda's_ , hand as he sang. "Getting on one knee, maybe two, people may stop and stare but I don't even care, no, just as long as I'm with you."

 _I'm going crazy. I hit my head and now I'm going crazy._

"You got me runnin on sunshine," Owen's projecting voice filled the hall. "Ain't no clouds getting in my way. I must be running on sunshine, ain't no rain gettin in my way." Cristina stared at him with an expression Jo had never seen on her face before. Was it love?

"Girl you got me actin' real crazy," DeLuca wrapped his arms around Maggie. "Chasin tail like some old dog," he eyed her bottom, earning laughs from the others in the room. "Ooo I got this rocket, in my front left pocket ready to explode like a bomb."

 _Is this what Alex planned for me?_ Jo smiled, tears brimming in her eyes. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect but she wasn't prepared for what came next.

"Something tells me your name is Lucy," Alex came out, holding his hand out for her. She took it and he glided her out in the middle of the room. "'Cause everything keeps shaking around," his hands slid up and down her body in a way that made Jo want to rip his crubs off right there and have sex with him. "We can cop a room, make these walls go boom, we can do this right here and now now now..."

Jo was absolutely astounded. She hadn't known Alex could sing! And he sounded so perfect doing it. So smooth... And that growl, she sighed happily. She made to thank him for everything but they weren't done yet. She sat back down and he, Owen, Ben, and DeLuca sang together.

"Runnin on sunshine, ain't no clouds gettin in my way. I must be running on sunshine, ain't no rain gettin in my way."

 _Who else could possibly be singing?_

Her question was answered when Miraunda began singing, "Hey just get over yourself, this ain't too good for your heath, hey just get over your selfffff." Arizona joined in on the next part. "Hey just get over yourself, this ain't to good for your health, hey just over your self, self, self."

"You got me runnin on sunshine," April came to the middle of the room, running a hand through her hair as she sang. "Ain't no clouds gettin in my wayyyyyy," her voice was powerful, just like Owen's. "I must be running on sunshine, ain't no rain getting in my way."

The guys repeated their version with Alex stealing glances at her every so often. But perhaps the second shocking, after all, Alex singing was pretty surprise, was when Meredith came to the middle to join them.

"No doubt

No doubt about it

And there ain't no clouds in my sky (Ain't no rain gettin in my way," Owen added)

No doubt about it

Ain't there ain't no clouds in my sky (Ain't no rain getting in my way)"

They ended the song, everyone looking at Jo for a reaction. "Did you like it?" Stephanie asked innocently.

Jo spluttered. "You did all this," she motioned all around them, "for me?"

"It was Alex's idea," Meredith grinned. "He said he wanted to do something special.'

"Yeah, he recruited us and we've been practicing," Arizona beamed.

"You're lucky I love you," Stephanie added. "I had to spend time with Karev of all people." Said doctor glared at her.

"Just know who gets you into surgeries, Edwards," he said sourly.

"Alright, alright," Miranda cut in. "ENough Karev."

Alex ignored her. He pulled Jo in his arms and asked with sincere eyes, "Did you like it? I hope it wasn't too cheesy or stupid."

"Hey, hey," she touched his cheek to sto his rambling. "It was perfect," tears slid down her face as she spoke. "I have never, ever, had a man who cared so much for me. Thank you Alex. I love you."

"I love you too, Mrs. Karev," he captured her lips in a sweet kiss.

At that moment, everyone's pagers beeped. "Major trauma in the ER," Webber read. "Alright people, all hands on deck. Kepner, take charge. Pierce.." he directed everyone where to go.

Alex held Jo's hand into his and kissed it. "Ready?"

She gave him her most determine smile. "Ready."

 **I'm so so so sorry if you all hated this chapter! I feel like it was a bit rushed and I apologize. I didn't know what to do for this, except the song, I knew I wanted to do that, and I didn't want to leave it any longer. I got the idea for the song by watching the musical episode. I wished it was done later so Alex could be doing his scene with Jo instead of Lucy. Anyway, epilogue is next!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Wow, LAST CHAPTER! I'm so sad to end this but I'm super excited for the sequel. Please enjoy!**

"Are you packed yet?" Jo was by the door, impatiently tapping her foot with her arms folded across her chest. They were about to leave for their honeymoon and as usual, Alex was taking his precious time.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he grumbled, pulling his suitcase noisily down the stairs. "Keep your panties on," a mischievous smile came on his face, "or don't."

Life slowly returned to normal for the couple. Izzie was truthful in her claim of transferring to another hospital. Her last day consisted of apologies but she still ended up glaring at Jo jealously every time she saw her wedding right or someone mentioned their marriage. _I guess that will never change_ , she mused, shaking her head.

Life had changed for Allison and her mother as well. A few days later, Allison went into labor. They did everything they could but the baby sadly passed. Allison had sobbed after learning the fate of her child. Her mother hesitantly came to comfort her, murmuring that she was sorry and that she believed her.

"You said that twenty minutes ago," Jo rolled her eyes. 'Do you have everything?"

"No. I thought I'd use your clothes," he said sarcastically.

'Shut up," she snapped. In a huff, she was at the car, muttering about men.

"Do you have your passport?" Alex asked expectantly.

"Yes."

"What about condoms?"

"Yes."

"What about-"

"If you ask me one more time, if I have that thong you like on me so much, I will leave it here," Jo threatened.

"Fine," he sulked in the driver's seat.

Jo hurriedly packed everything in the trunk before hopping in the passenger's side. "Ready?" she grinned.

"Ready." They sped off to the airport without a care in the world.

 **Well folks that's the end! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it! Be on the lookout for that sequel!**


End file.
